Vacationing in a country you’ve never been to can mean accepting that the norms in your life like knowing what you’re doing with your day, when you’ll be finding food, and where you’ll be sleeping at night no longer exist. This is true if you’re travelling to Cuba with a guidebook, a backpack, enough money (you hope) for a few weeks, and a return ticket home.

I expected people to be speaking Spanish, the infrastructure to be crumbling nationwide, and a general nationalistic verve amongst Cubans. What I didn’t expect was the complete lack of advertising (except for the government of course) on streets, stores, or most local media; the ease of communication despite my deplorable Spanish; and to learn that Cubans can teach Canadians about being safe on the road.

Don’t get me wrong; Cuba isn’t exactly the poster child for preventing injuries. You just have to see the five young men cantilevered onto a tiny bicycle slowly rolling down a busy street (see picture) to know the laws of the road aren’t strictly enforced.

But if you look beyond the ancient and fifth-hand vehicles without seatbelts and the roads lackingclearly demarcated lanes, there is an order to the intermingling of cars, buses, bikes, and horse-drawn wagons. Despite cars without seats, and even sometimes lights, it’s hard to find a Cuban automobile without a horn. Unlike in Canada, that horn isn’t used to complain about someone’s poor driving or for others to hurry up and go, but to notify others that you’re coming and to keep the way clear.

Cubans seem to use their horns almost like signal lights, with light honks telling pedestrians they’ll be turning right in front of them and louder honks for cars signaling they’re switching lanes to pass the next car.

Another road reality on this communist land that reminded me of Europe was the use of countdown clocks for traffic lights,  indicating how long the red, green, and sometimes-yellow traffic lights will last. I asked a cab driver about them, and he told me they’ve had them for years and that they come from China. I first saw this idea in Europe almost twenty years ago and thought they were a good idea since they truly inform people how long they have to clear an intersection.

Stepping out of your environment to see how other places in the world handle the same problems gave me insight on BC road infrastructure and the habits of drivers in this province. I’ve noticed a few British Columbians starting to use their horns to notify others that they’re around, but I’ve certainly never seen a traffic light count down in BC, let alone North America (escept for the odd pedestrian only lights).

What are  your observations from abroad that you think might help prevent injuries on BC roads?