To cross the road, remember the code

I'm writing this after watching yet another video on Sina Weibo that shows a toddler wandering into a road in a Chinese city and being knocked down by a car driven by someone clearly oblivious to the unfolding tragedy.

That's the second video recently, and I've lost count of how many I've seen over the years. Friends in Beijing have also shared countless tales with me of children blindly running out in front of the car or taxi they were traveling in. Like the videos, such incidents are far from uncommon.

Yet despite such horrific images being shared widely online, almost every day I see a parent or grandparent crossing a road with a child at an unsafe spot or while the walk sign is still red, which sends exactly the wrong message to youngsters about road safety.