It's Non-Stop Excitement at Haifa U

The Bus-stop at the University: Convenience or Death Trap?

People ask me if I worry about my safety on an Israeli bus.
I worry more about my safety off the Israeli bus.

I take the bus at least once a day, and every time upon my return to the University, I take my life into my own hands. Or rather, the hands of the busdriver speeding along his merry way.
(Because in Israel, the speed limit is just a friendly suggestion).

To explain my predicament, I have taken the time to draw a helpful diagram (not to scale). And yes, I actually spent half an hour on the damn thing. So appreciate it.

Okay, so here's the legend:

The cross-shaped structure is the Guard booth= Your Final Destination. This is the structure that any resident/visitor to the dorms must pass through to actually get into the dorms. It is usually the final destination of students taking the bus towards the dormitories, though often, students may get off at the bus stop (small green structure marked on the bottom left of the picture) and follow the yellow path towards other buildings on campus.

The red line marks the path of incoming busses (buses?), which whip around the traffic circle 45 seconds after dropping people off and heads toward the bus station and into the bus lane.

Note: Cars do not use the bus lanes. There is only one lane (the middle lane) for cars. It is, in fact, not a two way street, but rather, a two-way lane.

The yellow line marks the path of incoming cars hoping to park in the dorms parking lot.

The blue line marks the path of cars exiting the dorms parking lot.

Visibility to the rest of the road is blocked by a bush, which means cars making the right turn on the blue line cannot see A)oncoming traffic entering the parking lot on the yellow line, B)busses/buses backing up to get a good position on the red line to get into the bus lane next to the bus station, or C)people crossing on the pink line. The bush also means that oncoming traffic/pedestrians cannot see cars about to make the right turn on the blue line.

The pink line marks the average path of people getting off at the bus stop and heading towards the final destination: guard booth.

The white arrows painted in the middle lane by the Israeli Roads Authority, obscured by the pink, red, blue and yellow lines, point in both directions because Israel is apparently a third world country.

It must be mentioned that cars travelling the yellow line usually take a tight left turn, often crossing into the path of the blue line.

Conclusions to be drawn from the diagram: At any given point in the day, every single line upon which travels a car/bus/pedestrian, will intersect at the black starburst of doom

Consequences for me: vehicular manslaughter

To get to the bus station coming from the dorms through the guard booth, I must:
a) cross my fingers and take the long way around, crossing over both car lanes, going behind and around the bus station, and

or b) cross my fingers and then cross both car lanes, the bus lane/free-for-all-middle-lane

To get to the dorms through the guard booth coming from the bus stop, I must:
a) be faster than the bus who dropped me off as he takes 45 seconds to whip around the traffic circle (note: it takes a good 48 seconds to get from the bus stop to the bush, depending on if the bus waits to leave the bus stop right after dropping you off. 50 seconds if he doesn't wait.), cross the bus lane, cross the free-for-all-middle lane, cross both car lanes, and get onto the sidewalk and into the guard booth

or b) die.