Driving in China is HELL

In China, you can have a green light and still be found 40% at fault for hitting a scooter that ran a red light. That single event contains a cultural logic completely alien to the West. Dr. Cole Puterbaugh uses the daily act of driving in Shanghai to decode the unwritten rules of Chinese society. What looks like aggressive selfishness—cars pushing into lanes, pedestrians ignoring traffic—is often a symptom of a different social contract. In a place of extreme population density, the Western idea of an individual’s 'right-of-way' gives way to a system of shared, hierarchical responsibility. The bigger you are, Cole explains, the more responsibility you bear, shifting the onus of safety from the jaywalker to the driver. It is a system built not on abstract laws, but on immediate, concentric circles of relationships. This is a world governed by a logic of social obligation, not individual rights. — Join the newsletter and read the essays: https://12yearsout.com Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@12yearsout Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4b4FiiXIUDscBAVHIDO3lO Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/12-years-out-with-cole-puterbaugh/id1891583275 Follow Cole on X: https://x.com/coleputerbaugh