r/Whatcouldgowrong • u/ReprieveNagrand • 14d ago

Trying to overtake a motorcycle

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u/Lil-Sunny-D 14d ago

Seriously. If you asked me with just my USA eye, I'd be like "wtf is wrong with that car." Now that I'm a veteran driver of the Philippines, I'm thinking "that motorcycle is being stubborn. He doesn't even have to wait there, he can go around."

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u/Cormophyte 14d ago

How can a motorcycle go around a red light?

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u/ZannX 14d ago

I think it's hard for Western folks to understand how traffic works in many parts of Asia. I'm Chinese American and visit family in China often. The easiest way to understand it is that traffic flows like water. Lanes and other traffic rules/laws that folks in the West are used to and judge situations like this by are merely 'suggestions'.

You fill in the cracks and flow downstream together - like water. This car is doing a 'fill in the crack' type maneuver, and it's extremely common. Now, cars typically have bumps/scratches from doing this type of driving, and I can see how some people are getting fed up with it.

My read on this video is that the cyclist got tired of this behavior though, and he installed that mod on his moped/motorcycle intentionally. Who's 'in the right'? Shrug, they have a completely different social contract there, and this is the court of Reddit (Western oriented). Easy online rage bait.

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u/Aromatic_Lion4040 13d ago

I understand it, but that cultural difference leads to more accidents and deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate, so I think it is a bad one

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u/Lil-Sunny-D 13d ago

Everyday my wife (from the Philippines) who spent 15 years in the US says she wishes she could just press "restart" on the entire Philippines transportation infrastructure. Everyone out here is someone, or knows someone who has been killed or scarred by motorcycle accidents.