I remember writing an article about how much I appreciated the new traffic regulation which puts the onus of proof on car drivers if they are involved in any accident. Some readers asked if I had any driving experience in Shanghai. I was not able to answer then but after obtaining a driver's licence and starting to drive my own car, I can say something now.

The very first day I drove in traffic accompanied by my driving instructor, I was pretty scared. I was scared by the traffic which was totally different from what I had experienced in the training school. There were definitely more automobiles. They were all going faster. None would give way to another.

But this was not as frightening as the bicycles and pedestrians. We did not have bicycles or pedestrians in the training school and I had no idea how to deal with them. In a narrow street where there was no special lane for bicycles and pedestrians, all of them tended to occupy a large space rather than driving or walking to the right side of the road. What was more scary was that sometimes, pedestrians made sudden dashes across the road where there were no pedestrian crossings. I was so nervous that I kept my speed below 20km/h and the long queue of cars that was growing behind me started honking.

"Blow the horn!" my driving instructor told me. What? I am the one who advocates driving without honking. I understood, as a pedestrian and a cyclist, that it is very annoying to hear the honking of horns. "If you don't do it, you'll drive over someone one day to get through," my instructor said.

I knew that this was not an idle threat. My speed was so slow that bicycles were actually overtaking me. I was tortured. Finally, I made up my mind to touch the horn, in the hope the bicycles ahead of me would hear and make way for me. However, I was disappointed. One touch of the horn seemed to have no impact on the brave cyclists. They kept on riding in the middle of the road.

"Punch it! Twice!" was the further instruction from my instructor. Right, right. I "punched" the horn twice. At that moment, I had to totally give up my belief in being a well-behaved driver. And it worked - the cyclists moved to the right hand side of the road.

How come cyclists and pedestrians totally ignore traffic regulations? Is there any economic incentive for them not to risk their lives? The economic rationale behind the new law seems not to be working.

My perspective on traffic has altered somewhat since I have become a car driver. However, I am not trying to say that pedestrians and cyclists are entirely to blame for bad traffic conditions. I wish that both parties, drivers and non-drivers, could stand in each other's shoes and with a better understanding of each other's position both sides could be expected to behave better. Good traffic conditions have to come from the efforts of both parties.

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