Only in New York?

I say, "Only in New York," because I've never seen it before. I understand it's common in Hong Kong.

Today, I was driving west on West 37th Street. I stopped at a red light at 8th Avenue. Then, a couple of cars behind me, a fire truck had approached, on the way to an emergency. It's lights were flashing, siren wailing, and horn blaring. In New York emergency vehicles have the absolute right of way.

This is about the only time you're permitted to go through a red light. In fact, it's the law. In any case, you're supposed to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle, even if it means going through a red light.

The uptown traffic on 8th Avenue was heavy. Although I wanted to move forward, and go through the red light, it was impossible.

Then, a small, Asian women jumped in front of the traffic on 8th Avenue, waving her hands in the air. I couldn't believe it. I thought she was going to get killed. She successfully stopped all the traffic by herself.

I proceeded through the red light. The car behind me followed. The fire truck went through too, and turned up 8th Avenue.

As I drove to 10th Avenue, I was still so amazed.

When I got back to the office, I told Sherri, my associate. She said, women do that all the time in Hong Kong.