In my humble opinion, Shanghai, for the most part, is a safe city. Safe in that I could walk home at night and not fear that someone will rob or assault me.
But in some ways, life in Shanghai is a bit precarious. Everyone is in such a rush to get somewhere that they forget to act with caution or have common courtesy for other people.
Just about everyday that I leave my apartment and venture out, I am likely to be hit by a bus, car, moped, bicycle and even people. In the U.S., pedestrians have the right of way. If you are in a car or moped and you don't slow down to yield for a pedestrian crossing the street, you can be fined by the highway police. The logic is that a pedestrian is smaller and more vulnerable than a car. So the car should yield. So as soon as the pedestrian steps onto the crosswalk, all cars must stop.
But this is not the case in Shanghai. I lost count as to how many times I see accidents and near accidents. The worst is seeing big buses coming down on a group of pedestrians who are crossing the street. The drivers don't slow down at all! What if one of the pedestrians who is a child or an elderly citizen falls? The bus won't have enough time to stop and could run over the child or elderly citizen.
I could write a whole book on drivers in China but that is not the point of this blog entry.
The point I want to make is that it doesn't take that much effort to show a little caution and courtesy for others.
This is not only when you are in your car, on your moped or bicycle, it applies to when you are walking around. There is no reason to push and shove people to get on the escalator, elevator, bus, etc. The one second that you take to let someone go ahead of you will not kill you. It may save someone, including yourself, from getting hurt.
Whenever I complain about the lack of concern for safety or courtesy to local Chinese people, their response is always, "China has too many people." But that's
not an acceptable excuse. New York City has a lot of people. Tokyo has a lot of people. Many other cities around the world have lots of people. I don't get pushed and shoved there.
So, please, slow down and show some courtesy and concern for people around you. It could mean the difference between life and death.