Iran‘s capital,Tehran, is a city that has a hard time dealing with traffic and air pollution problems with its population approaching 20 million.. In order to create a solution to the traffic jam in the city center, single-double plate application is made.. It is not possible to enter the city center on certain days of the week according to the license plate numbers.. Crowded population, busy streets and streets at all hours of the day, motorcycles suddenly appearing from every corner, drivers driving badly, and cars that have not been renewed for 30-40 years due to the embargo create danger.
I believe that the best way to get to know the city is to walk.. I threw myself on the streets of Tehran, leaving aside the pocket map I had provided before and the navigation on my mobile phone, which I trusted to use in an emergency.
Despite the tension I was carrying because of all kinds of prejudiced words and warnings, Grand Bazaar I have to carefully examine everything from shopkeepers to people, from shop windows to signboards on the streets that I am walking towards.. When I say one step forward, one step back, I can’t seem to cross the street.. With the culture shock I went through, while I was waiting under the scorching sun, the calculation of ‘how to cross’ is running through my mind.
Despite the wide square and pedestrian crossing with the traffic light, there is no order, despite the fact that the vehicles coming from right to left in the rushing traffic have noticed people. It really scares me that they don’t stop. When we include motorcycles that are not clear from where and how, the fear of being crushed takes over.
I start watching people based on the idea of how others succeed.. With my eyes, I carefully bid farewell to every person who makes a move to cross the road.
At the end of this adaptation process, which lasted for about 10 minutes, I am proud to have successfully concluded the effort to cross the street, which started with fear and turned into frustration with a few negative attempts.
In Tehran’s traffic, the key to combating all external factors and crossing the road is to make eye contact with the drivers and to set oneself on the road with flexible and careless movements.. Pedestrians, the most important part of the harmony in the chaos, have the potential to have an accident at any moment on the main streets where hundreds of vehicles pass.. Being a driver is as difficult as being a pedestrian in Tehran.
