Why the chicken is scared to cross the road

For as many pedestrians as there are in Nice, you would think that walking would be relatively safe.  But the truth is, the minute you’re out the door and on the street (or the sidewalk, for that matter), you’re taking your life in your hands. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve seen someone almost get mowed over by a car, tram, motorcycle, bus, bike, or rollerblader since I’ve been here. There are several reasons for this:

First of all, no one uses the crosswalks. Pedestrians just dart out into the street willy nilly (villy nilly) without even bothering to check for traffic. At first I was shocked and I stuck to the crosswalks like a law-abiding citizen. But having had some close calls myself at the crosswalks, now I say “why bother?”  You get the white pedestrian “go” light for about 5 seconds…just long enough for you to get out into the middle of the road. Then the pedestrian light turns red with no warning and cars come screeching at you from all directions and you’re darting around in the middle of the road like a squirrel trying not to get hit. And that’s only if you’re lucky. Because sometimes you wait around for the pedestrian light and cars don’t even stop to let you cross. The other day it was my turn to cross the street and a big bus whipped around a corner and flew through the intersection, paying absolutely no attention to the people stepping out into the street to cross.

So you stick to the sidewalk…but even the sidewalk isn’t safe. When the light turns red, motorcyclists drive up on the sidewalk so they don’t have to wait. The first time I saw that was quite a surprise. The motorcycle pulled off the road up beside me and zoomed down the sidewalk, weaving around pedestrians, bikes, strollers, kids, skateboards.

The final hazard is the public squares. There are several in Nice and they’re great meeting places with street performers and fountains, lined with cafés and other great little shops.  I spend quite a bit of time at one particularly busy square that also happens to be on the tram line. It’s funny because there are hundreds of people milling around watching a Michael Jackson impersonator or a guitarist, then you hear a bell ring and a giant tram comes barreling through at 30mph. People are darting around on the track just a few yards ahead of the tram. And because there aren’t any roads that go through the square (only tram tracks), drivers trying to get to the roads on the other side weave all over the square trying to avoid pedestrians. “Straight path from one side to the other? What is that?”

I am terrified. 

*Despite what Akashdeep says, this is NOT a complaint...merely an observation. I still <3 France and all of its weird little quirks.