I witnessed a scary scene.

The intersection of Somoni and Tomin streets is one of the busiest in Kulob. I cross it every day, at least twice, between home and the office. Most drivers approaching the stop lines on red lights drift past them, even if pedestrians are crossing. Cars tend to edge dangerously close to oncoming traffic, which keeps me on my toes as I walk across. Frequent power outages mean that the lights are often not even working.

Heading home after work at sundown (with imperfect visibility), I crossed to my apartment’s side of the intersection when I heard the sound of a car breaking suddenly. I looked behind me to see a woman falling forward as a car narrowly missed her (or clipped her – it was hard to tell). The woman was soon surrounded by other pedestrians as I walked back to see if she was alright. The driver stopped his car and got out. He spoke with the woman briefly and then jumped back into his car, speeding off (which seemed insufficient to me). The woman was helped by the pedestrians. She seemed to be ok, and I made my way home, promising myself to be extra cautious when crossing that intersection in the future.