TD, you are right. It's accepted practice here in China that vehicles entering the flow of traffic do not look, but simply enter, thus conferring to the flow of traffic the responsibility of yielding. Again, we see this endlessly every day. Driving in the flow of traffic, you will never make eye contact with these drivers who are turning into your late because they don't even bother to look. This may seem unbelievable to those outside of China, but it's a fact of life we deal with every day, at every intersection.

And the bigger the vehicle entering the main flow of traffic, the less likely the driver is to look.

All the more reason to limit our urban riding as much as possible. Take public transit. Bicycle. Walk. And leave your urban riding to only that stretch that will get you out of town, which in the case of us here in Shanghai is a couple of hours of the stuff TD and I have just described.

You must inure yourself to it, and live, or you'll die of high blood pressure and unsuppressed outrage.

Oh, and these vests help too. Bought them in 牛庄路 for 25 kuai each! On the back they say 警察 (police).