Beijing Wants You to Learn These Hand Signals!

Ask any Beijinger what their biggest complaint about the city is, and they'll probably tell you its how dysfunctional the traffic is. Beijing has recently taken a series of measures – from fining drivers who fail to yeild to passengers to asking people to film traffic violators – to improve the safety for pedestrians. The city has even come up with a series of hand signals that pedestrians and drivers can use to make it easier at intersections with crossings. What are these gestures, exactly? Here are three signals Beijing wants you to put to use.

Who goes first?

When to use it: This signal is applicable for situations when drivers and pedestrians are unsure about who should pass first on crosswalks without any accompanying traffic lights.

Under such circumstances, pedestrians can outstretch their right arm, with palm inward, and then swing their arm towards their chest to signal to drivers that they can go first.

Drivers, in turn, can pull their left arm out the window, palm facing upward, signaling to pedestrians that they can pass first.

I want to cross the road

When to use it: Use this hand signal when you want to cross the road ahead of the driver, letting the drivers know they should make way for you.

Extend your arm, point your palm towards the direction that the car is coming from and wave it towards them to signal for a driver to stop.

When the driver finally stops, don’t forget to raise your thumb up to show some love for their kind gesture!

I’m not going!

When to use it: Finally, if a driver has already stopped for you, but you have no intention of crossing before they go, make sure to use this signal.

Extend your arm, palm outward, and move your hand from left to right like you are waving at someone.

Read: Beijing Asks You to Film Naughty Drivers

Images: Courtesy of Irene Li, Kris Wei (Via UNSPLASH)