Shenzhen Traffic: A Rant You Can't Unsee 🚦🚦
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Wow, friends who come to Shenzhen for a visit might not have encountered traffic lights like these before!
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The super long red lights:
- In some places, you'll think the red light could last forever! It actually lasts for a full 150 seconds – that’s two and a half minutes! I could fall asleep in my car.
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Then comes the turn and straight-ahead green lights, which are extremely precious:
- Green turn signal: A mere 13 to 17 seconds, gone in the blink of an eye!
- Green straight-ahead signal: A little better, but still just 34 seconds.
- As a result, we had to wait through three entire red light cycles just to turn around! Good gracious!
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Even the drivers are frustrated:
- With a helpless look on their face, they say it's so hard to know whom to address complaints about this traffic light design to. They feel just as though Heaven and Earth both ignored them.
- Honestly, I am not sure who was the "wise guy" (I’m being ironic here, you get the picture!) behind this traffic signal system design.
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️ Caution for visitors to Shenzhen! ️- Potential problem: At certain intersections in Shenzhen, one may encounter this peculiar combination of exceedingly long red lights and ultra-short green lights, greatly elongating waiting time.
- Money-saving tip: This trip, whenever I needed a taxi, I used one with a set fare (meaning that the price is predetermined before getting into the vehicle)—oh, what a life-saving choice that turned out to be! If I'd taken a taxi charged by duration, the cost of waiting at traffic signals alone could have drained my wallet. So when hailing a taxi, choose an app with the option for "set fare" services first!
#ShenzhenTraffic #ShenzhenTravel #Shenzhen
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This is the OCT (Overseas Chinese Town) scenic area, so there are many pedestrians. Besides, at most intersections in Shenzhen now, you don't even need to wait for a green light; they've set up spots where you can make a U-turn directly.
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I just used a picture as an illustration; this isn't the actual spot.
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Why not just set the green light to 100 seconds then?
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I hope you ask yourself the same question when you encounter an intersection like this.
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That's because Shennan Avenue has higher priority than the road leading out of the scenic area.
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It's Shahe West Road, not Shennan Avenue.
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I once encountered a 999-second red light near the Civic Center; I actually thought the light was broken.
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Exactly.
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Only a few intersections are like this; overall, Shenzhen is quite considerate in its traffic design.