Cuba, a nation of brazen jaywalkers, asks island scofflaws to mind the rules of the road
Cuba, a nation of brazen jaywalkers, asks island scofflaws to mind the rules of the road
By Associated Press,
Updated: Monday, March 4, 1:43 PM
HAVANA — Teenagers dash across a six-lane thoroughfare and launch themselves into the balmy waters of the Straits of Florida.
A couple skips the sidewalk and strolls down an unlit street as bulky 1950s cars with bald tires and worn brakes zip past inches away.
“Here there is no custom of using the crosswalk,” said Maria Rubio, a 55-year-old Havana resident who had just sauntered across the six lanes of bustling 23rd Street, mere steps from a zebra-striped crossing. “We simply cross wherever we are.”
Jaywalking is endemic in Havana, where islanders seem to treat the streets like a real-life version of the video game Frogger, weaving in and out of traffic while risking life and limb to reach the other side. Locals call it “toreando autos” — “bullfighting with cars.”
More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/cuba-a-nation-of-brazen-jaywalkers-asks-island-scofflaws-to-mind-the-rules-of-the-road/2013/03/04/57e3191e-8501-11e2-a80b-3edc779b676f_story.html
(I wanted to share this story because the rush to publish the story caused the corporate media to forget they have previously shown only photos from the ancient, crumbling part of old Havana. That has ALWAYS been their unbroken rule. They always have also shown only the very old 1950's (or older) cars, completely blocking photos of European cars which have been in Cuba for decades.
This is a rare exception to their Cuba-specific stories.)
