notes and reflections

In the U.S., I have seen lone pedestrians at 2 and 3 in the morning along streets long emptied of traffic, standing patiently on corners waiting for the light to change.  In much of Morelia, such behavior would probably be regarded as proof of insanity.

It is not that Morelia's citizens are scofflaws.  The city is encircled by a major highway and the rights of movement along it and along many of the broad arterials within the city that connect its many parts are generally respected by motorists and pedestrians alike. It is in the smaller neighborhoods served by narrow, one-way streets and in the historic center of the city that a form of mobile and ambulatory anarchy exists.  Few of the small neighborhoods have traffic lights and thus the right to proceed at intersections is frequently determined by which vehicle arrives first or, when two vehicles arrive simultaneously, which one can bluff the other out and scoot across quickly without being t-boned. Pedestrians in these areas cross streets at any place and any time they feel they can affect the voyage without significant bodily injury.

This is true, too, along Madero, the heavily traveled main street of the city's historic center.  Here there are traffic lights, albeit frequently ignored and totally unique.  As these lights change to signal that pedestrians are free to cross intersections, a small animated man appears on the light along with a countdown which represents the amount of time the pedestrian has before he or she is flattened by onrushing traffic.  At first the little man moves leisurely but as the countdown proceeds, he begins to move faster.  During the last 3-to-4 seconds of the countdown he breaks into a run, an amusing but fair warning.  Traffic waits like a snorting bull and anyone caught in a crosswalk at this point would be well advised to at least break into a trot.