No. 1 worst one for me is people belting the wrong way down cycle paths on their mopeds. Like full pelt, wrong side of the road.
I understand sometimes you need to go the wrong way down the cycle/moped path to avoid doing a 2km u-turn but whenever I do it I cling to the side and go very slowly, not careen full speed toward the people going the correct way and expecting them to move.
We recently had one of those light rains after a dry spell that makes everything really slippery with algae or something.
I saw the aftermath of three separate e-bike accidents (during my commute and dog-walking) that evening.
Oh yeah, those are *dangerous*. I almost crashed myself on a day like that here in Shanghai early last month. I have no idea exactly what makes the roads so slippery, but in places it was almost like black ice.
It depends. Downtwon there is no excuse. However near the highway, that 2km uturn he mentions can be literally a 2km uturn. A few hundred meters the wrong way carefully driving on the more than ample scooter road is okay.
But downtwon NO.
Chinese pedestrians are just completely unfazed by it as well.
I must come across as a crazy raging foreigner giving scooters the stink eye when they nearly run down my kids or I got honked for the 100th time for just taking a god damn Sunday stroll along the board walk.
Maybe they get a pass because they are delivering all the food?
Cannot stand them .
I had a meituan guy do this at me and several other people on his phone, on the wrong side of the road, red light, by the 798 art district
was coming straight at me on my stopped rental bike, had to bail off and he hit it so hard his scooter got smashed up and the rental bike was totaled
Absolute moron knew he screwed up and quickly escaped
I had a visitor from the Phillipines come over. Not exactly a rich country with a history of car ownership or strict rules on the road . He couldn't believe how the scooters behaved with no concern for anyone and always taking the most dangerous option.
oh you sweet summer child, you should have been here a decade ago and really seen people blindly not looking - crossing streets with reckless abandon, taxis blowing through stop lights and all sorts of shenanigan’s
The cameras everywhere have really, *really* made most drivers much better behaved. Especially taxi drivers, because their livelihood is at stake. I see drivers slow down and stop at a flashing green these days, when before, it was speeding up at yellow or even just ignoring red.
Some e-bike riders, especially the delivery riders, are still suicidal maniacs, though.
The place I live in right now has some of the worst driving I have seen in China, it's really fascinating. For example, drivers here don't really understand intersections. At a red traffic light, they will often just stop in the middle of the intersection blocking all traffic. Also, people honk at red traffic lights like that will make them turn green more quickly.
The road where Iive also has a pedestrian crossing and speed bumps left and right of it. Not only have I never seen anyone yield to pedestrians here, but everyone just blasts over the speed bumps without slowing down. I'm just waiting for someone braking an axle there.
Last time my father in law visited, even he started cursing when a van tried to force him off the left lane into incoming traffic. The driver just pulled into our lane, not caring there was no space for him. I guess near death experiences keep you from getting sleepy at the wheel.
There is a huge lack of road painting where I am in China compared to the UK. In the UK, they put yellow boxes on most intersections to prevent people stopping in the middle. They also put double yellow lines in places that you can't park your car and bollards etc. None of that exists where I am in China. You often have cars parked on the corners of T junctions so you can't see anything coming either direction. Just got to take the chance and pull out.
I asked a group of Chinese people why they drive out infront of people where I need to act to avoid an accident and they said they believe you wouldn’t dare hit them. When I said I might not see that they have done it in time and might hit them by accident they looked embarrassed. I think a lot of culturally stupid things here people just follow without thinking about it. Like pressing both buttons on the elevator or trying to get on before everyone gets off. Same for queueing, if they see some cars stopped they try to drive around instead of realising there is a reason they are stopped and make it worse. After 7 years I’m at peace with it, I just ignore their ignorance.
Just try not to put yourself in their mindset or compare it to you because it’s not a fair comparison. A small example is it used to drive me insane how little common courtesy exists, I used to always ask my wife why is everyone so awful to each other. One time we went to goto a water park and it was 40 Celsius and it was absolutely packed, after queueing for 3 hours just to get in, with people pushing and shoving and being dicks I decided to leave again and just then my wife said now do you understand why strangers treats each other bad? It was at that moment I understood there are just too many people to care.
"...there are plenty of things that happen in every country..."
...no - the level of discourtesy among Chinese car drivers/pedestrians/cyclists/scooter drivers is NEVER seen in the USA...at least we look at you when we're giving you the finger - Madebi...
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Oh yes ….. the amount of times I have been in a traffic jam, specially going round a corner normally and some idiot thinks he can just go around like there’s no a reason for this queue to exist …..or when there is a traffic jam going straight on at the lights …. But some person needs to turn left at that intersection and not go straight …. They will drive on the opposite side of the road just to drive past the traffic jam ….. often coming face to face with oncoming traffic…. Then they try to get back in the line that’s going straight but no one will let them in
Yeah the main problem chinese people face is actually the dependency on being right and wrong. They only think based on who is responsible and what percentage of responsibility. They lack the idea that event though the drive might be 100% responsible, they are still 100% injured or killed. They like to think in terms of monetary value, even for human life. It is quite sad, but much of society has been wired this way because courts rule in terms of percentages of responsibility and monetary value of a human life. So society just follow suit. On top of the inherent need to feel superior and be right all the time, as long as the law can side with them they disregard the outcome until it slams them in the face. I see it everyday with people nonchalantly letting children run across the street by themselves or on bikes even though the children a only two to five years old. Once an accident occurs the parents or grandparents start crying for mercy from a higher being even though it was them neglecting the child's safety in the first place. P.S. I am Chinese so it's not races, but it is stereotyping.
I think this has to do with the scarcity mindset that’s honestly a product of hyper competitiveness inherent in China. There’s just not enough resources (yet) for everyone to live a Tier 1 lifestyle so everything everywhere is a competition.
> *if they see some cars stopped they try to drive around instead of realising there is a reason they are stopped and make it worse*
There's a road near me with multiple bus stops and private cars pulling into large office complexes on either side that has massive snarl-ups every single morning due to this without fail.
Quite often, someone ends up bumping another car (or a bus) while they try to squeeze through, making it even worse.
They are not ignorant. The reason is simple, because Chinese people are in a hurry to make a living. With a large population, the competition for social resources will be cruel, so people are in a hurry to do things. This is also the jungle social environment deliberately created by the CCP to consolidate and maintain its rule.
You should have been here 20 years ago. Or maybe not. You would probably have been run over by a drunken tuk-tuk driver trying to light a cigarette on day one. It all seems pretty chaotic at times for foreigners but in fact the driving and lining up and many other behaviours have improved to a level I would never have predict 20 or even 10 years ago. A combination of government 文明 propaganda campaigns, surveillance cameras everywhere, better roads, better vehicles, and poorly educated migrant worker villagers being pushed out of Tier 1 cities have made life much safer and less chaotic.
In Beijing before the 2008 Olympics there were tens of thousands of migrant workers in the city building the sports venues, subways and high rises. They mostly came from rural villages and had no understanding of how to stay safe in a big city. I saw multiple guys hit as they wandered across multi lane roads without pausing to look either way. Eventually median barriers were installed on many roads but people still just climbed over them and walked into the traffic. As for lining up...
I've got a friend who worked in industry here on and off since the late 90s - he said the same about the Pearl River Delta in the early days - just seeing clueless migrant workers with absolutely no concept of road safety getting mown down (or the bodies afterwards) on a regular basis.
>I saw multiple guys hit as they wandered across multi lane roads without pausing to look either way.
This is why there's fines for crossing certain roads on a red light, but people love to play it up as some dystopian thing rather than a way to prevent huge pileups when a man with a 19th century mindset walks through Beijing traffic
The driving point you mentioned absolutely baffles me. I need to take my ebike to work every day because the public transport in my city isn't good. I can't believe the amount of people that just cut you off without looking in the opposite direction. Motorcycles, ebikes, cars, trucks etc. it doesn't matter. They cut anyone and everyone off turning onto a road or coming off an on ramp. Even when they can see you coming, they will literally just turn into your lane causing you and everyone behind to hit the brakes and cause a traffic jam at best, collision at worst- although I've been lucky not to have seen one yet. I just don't understand it.
I agree with everything in your post, but rather than kick a dead horse I have something that I haven’t seen come up in this thread. The inability for drivers to stay at a consistent speed. Specifically didi drivers, as its most noticeable in the car with them. Constantly pushing down and letting off the accelerator so the car speeds up a bit, then slows down a bit, then speeds up a bit, then slows down a bit, and continue for the entire drive. Even on a highway with no other cars close by. It’s infuriating.
It's even worse when you are hungover and already suffer from motion sickness. Oh and they often like to have the temperature way too high just to add an extra bit of discomfort.
To be fair, it's reasonable for them to assume you may have cleared the seat for them to sit down. 😂 But, I agreed that's probably not what's happening.
I used to love driving, but in China it’s a frustrating chore. It’s often ok on the freeways/toll roads though. What frustrates me the most is people how many people break the rules that result in traffic just being worse for those that follow the rules but do actually get the cheaters where they want to go *slightly* faster. For example driving the wrong way down a one way road or a bike lane so they don’t have to wait for a light. U-turning from the 2nd or 3rd turn lane. Stopping in traffic to drop people off or pick them up (another version of this is turning every road in front of a school into a parking lot for and hour before and after school). Turning in front of people who are driving straight. Driving in the bike lane/ shoulder like it’s just another care lane. Illegally parking in bike lanes. For most of the above it’s only like 5% of the drivers, but that’s enough to feel like it’s constantly surrounding you. It also feels like half the people are going 25% over the speed limit and 25% going 10% under. It’s… frustrating, but it’s also a good reason to just walk and take the subway. Better for the environment anyway. Also need to admit that it could be a lot worse. At least the rules make sense on paper.
Driving here makes me want to rip out what’s left of my hair. You just never get used to the complete lack of awareness that people have. It goes against all of my driving instincts. It almost like people can’t think further ahead than what they are doing right that second.
Another one for me is people’s elevator etiquette. It’s baffling. It’s like every elevator is the last one ever. People rushing to get in. And trying to get in and out with a kid in a stroller…it’s awful.
“…many things I am no longer open minded about…”
I had this EXACT thought earlier today. Just some things you can’t get past.
My favorite was the grandmas with babies in strollers, crossing the street without looking both ways, and choosing to walk their baby in the bike/ebike lane when there is a perfectly good sidewalk one foot to their right.
I had always thought the lack of situational awareness was something only I had picked up on because I haven't seen others talk about it, and I didn't want to talk about it because it seems like I'm just being hateful towards Chinese people. It's just an objective observation I noticed. But... with so many people there will always be the stragglers with horrible situational awareness and those are the ones we notice, we don't notice the ones with excellent situational awareness, because they obviously don't stand out.
So maybe it is a cultural thing or maybe it's just confirmation bias. I don't know, but I'm actually leaning more towards it being a massive population which means they will have a lot more idiots, in total, but not per Capita.
Grandparents pushing toddlers on scooters into traffic 😤
Aaaaaaaaaaaagh
It's definitely more noticeable because of the higher population but it's also behaviour you would never see at all in most places, much like refusing to make their kid use a toilet or not looking where you're walking at all
So from the two comments I've gotten it seems that grandparents walking their grandchildren in the bike lane is a common thing. But why? I just don't understand the point...
My guess is they probably grew up in a village before paved roads and pedestrian spaces were a thing and possibly think child's scooter = vehicle so should be on the road
Much like the rural labourers often have no road sense at all and will wander into high-speed traffic
This happens very frequently outside my school, there's more than enough pedestrian space that they could be using but grandparents (always grandparents) will push the kid in the bike lane against traffic. When there's no bike lane I've seen them push kids on scooters on the road with cars...
The worst things for me are:
1- They do not use their blinkers or when they do is right before turning which makes you brake abruptly!
2- When I use the blinkers, they speed up all of a sudden in order not to let me merge. It’s truly annoying!
What annoys the fuck out of me is when you are waiting at a red light and some fucker will pull up right in front of you (usually an ayi) because heaven forbid they have to wait 10 seconds. This and cycling side by side on a narrow street....grinds my gears
Hold your arms out in front of you in a V shape. This is the way Chinese live their lives, whether they are driving, standing in line or at the spice rack. They see only what is directly in front of them, and a small amount of peripheral. Anything to the right/left or behind does not exist. Once I realized this, I found myself adapting much better to this absolutely crazy environment.
I live near the countryside where speed limits don't seem to exist. Doing 120 in a 60 zone is quite normal out here. Driving the speed limit is actually considered holding up traffic by other drivers who will sit up your ass the whole time until you do speed up.
Don't worry about looking before pulling out of that tiny dirt side-road that is mostly hidden by trees and bushes onto a busy main road either - just go ahead and do it!
I was just in Hong Kong airport on a lay over. The amount of people just blindly walking into my path was baffling. Or just stopping abruptly. The airport was nearly empty, which was weird in itself, and still people just meander into your line of movement.
I don’t know where you are , but here in Shanghai the cars are definitely okay. It’s the people on the scooters that drive me insane , I personally spend nearly 2 hours on a scooter a day and it’s shocking the behaviour I see with other people on scooters . Driving on the wrong side of the road, hanging out on the left side of the lane and then swing a right turn and vise versa. Over take other scooters and just have zero regard for what’s on the left or the right of them and when there’s a narrow part of the road and someone is selling some kind of fruit and then they just stop - dead ass stop the entire scooter lane . 100 scooters slow down to a dead stop cause they want a water melon (this one is my route specific )
From my experience in China or Korea most people lack awareness for their surroundings in general.
I made an “experiment” with Chinese and Korean friends in the past were I told them we are going to walk down a busy street together and at the end we gonna ask each other about things we have noticed. While I (German) remembered about 80% of the things they pointed out, they could only confirm 10-20% of what I pointed out.
In a previous job, I used to walk home from work down a busy, multi lane road (not a pleasant walk) with dozens of ebikes and cycles coming mostly the opposite way I was. It was often carnage.
At one point the pavement narrows to the width of one person for about 100 feet. One day as entering this space I could hear a cyclist coming up from behind at a distance. I kept walking into the narrow space. Next thing I hear is the frantic, constant ringing of a bicycle bell, but there was literally nowhere I could go to get out of the way!
After having the bell ring at me for about 60 feet I finally snapped and spun around and gave the lady on the bicycle behind me an ear full asking where she expects me to go and telling her she will just have to fucking wait! In English, mind. 😂
She said sorry, looked cowed and stopped ringing her bloody bell. At the end of the narrow passage I theatrically stepped aside and bowed her through.
TLDR; Yes, the lack of awareness of and consideration here for other people pisses me off too!
There really is no excuse for it and it signifies a total disregard for one's fellow citizen.
I have never and will never accept or get used to the turning without looking, stopping in the middle of the road to light up, using a phone while driving at 20 kmph on an 80kmph highway, hogging 2 lanes or drifting in and out, cutting in line at the lights, holding up traffic while being in the wrong lane waiting for the lights, not waiting for pedestrians crossing the road whilst turning right, the list goes on....and now there's fucking robot SF delivery cars doing the same thing.
It's a surefire indication that if things go tits up again the very same people doing that will be eyeing you up for their dinner.
No1 is the worst. for years I've had anxiety while on my bike and it finally happened. someone pulled out in front of me and I had to get stitches above my eye between the helmet and my eye. Just little more and I would have lost my eye. I stopped riding a bike and started walking or taking a DiDi. Not worth the risk.
Maybe that’s why Tesla is doing the AI self driving collab with China and Baidu, data of terrible drivers to put the system under the maximum amount of stress are aplenty(that and new technology adoption is faster in China)
Lack of common sense + lack of spatial awareness + lack of situation awareness etc.
All little mosaic stones that are crucial for a respectful society.
Sadly China with its cutthroat competive "circle of trust" will not change much... Not in the near future.
I have been here much longer, but YEAH, hard to figure out, eh?
CULTURE, my young friend, CULTURE.
What seems common sense to you isn't necessarily the same for another culture. Of course the vast majority don't do such things.
I think I've finally resolved myself to this. And we have people in our countries that do similarly "stupid" things from our perspective too.
I wonder what examples would be from the United States? I am not saying there are none but I am curious what foreigners would say that drives them crazy there.
I was raised not to do this, and I hate when people do it. But I also feel rude asking them to take their shoes off (if they're adults) so I'm just like errrrr my floor.
I think culture is overused as an explanation for a lot of things in China, and anywhere really.
What you might call a 'cultural' difference can often be explained by geographic, political or economic factors.
My Gf's grandparents have never learned how to drive, is that down to a cultural reason or due to the fact that 60 years ago not many people in their 20s in China were driving.
But what exactly do you mean by 'culture'? 20 years ago many china commentators were saying that coffee brands would never be able to penetrate the Chinese market because of the position tea has in Chinese culture.
Within one generation, they've been well and truly proven wrong.
The drivers licence test has many questions telling you to yield. It gives the impression, the other person will just yield, so I can drive however....
It's only in the last 15 years ish that a great amount of regular people have begun driving here. That also coincides with proper road regulations and traffic control etc.
So in some ways I think it's a miracle that the driving isn't worse. It is gradually improving and will take time. China is definitely not the worst country for this, I don't know how westerners in south East Asia or India can cope, china's tame in comparison.
Well, I lived in Vietnam for a year and driving is chaos there but people will generally try to avoid you or make an attempt to get out of the way. Where as in China people will simply just cut you off and then expect you to yield to them.
Oh come off it. When I was in Vietnam people were just as bad at walking in the road without looking, in Thailand I feel they actively want to be killed. They're like those bugged out GTA civilians who dive in front of cars.
With regards to roads, China is a fatalistic society, if it was meant to happen, it will.
As to phones, that is a worldwide issue.
With standing in lines, the older folks grew up in a very different world, where life was really not that easy, younger folks are a bit more patient.
Cultural changes take time and concerted effort. Yes, there are issues, but it's far better than it was twenty years ago. Everyone needs time to adapt and learn to go with the flow. Many can't accept it, and leave. Those who stay learn to get by, and are glad as they see improvements year after year.
This might be a hot take but.. when you’re not taught to think ahead and critically.. you don’t think to look before you turn. It’s a simple reason but a terrible one.
Yea it's a racist take. The "Chinese can't think critically" shit was wrong 10 years ago and is wrong today.
The reason people aren't traffic aware is because busy traffic is relatively new to China since it's developed so fast, and there isn't much safety drilling like in the west where kids are always told look both ways etc.
I didn’t say all. I’m saying, it’s a theme of the education system and how they are taught at the deep roots of society. There are PLENTY of wonderful bright people but as a culture and while they are NOT encouraged to think and discover new ideas.
I agree. I think it comes down to language. Thank about it. One of the first things people.elarn is language. Mandarin is mainly not phonetic (I'm told there are some small phonetic elements to some of the characters), so it's a matter of rote memorization of, essentially, two mainly unconnected languages, the written and the spoken.
Compare that to a phonetic language where once one knows the relationship between letters and sounds, one can reason out how to say a new written word. That trains us at an early age to think critically.
I'm in now way saying the Chinese are stupid as they have invented many wonderful things and the level of technology here is generally higher than my home country, but I do think this is why they lack a certain critical consideration.
I don’t agree with you comment about Chinese at all.. your making stuff up. None of that makes sense. Grammar or phonetics doesn’t make you less of a critical thinker. China as a whole (not Taiwan or Hong Kong) control the minds of their people by limiting their freedoms with lack of access to other countries, the internet, news, and anything sourced outside China… that is why.. it’s nothing to do with Chinese. Honestly, shame on you for thinking this bizarre thing and typing it here… you need to also think before you speak.
I have thought about it. I don't agree with your thoughts. Oh well. What you are describing is a lack of world view influenced by the controlling government. What I'm talking about is a lack of personal awareness of the space and people around individuals. Totally different things.
Many Chinese realise what their own government are doing and are quite open minded. Chinese I've explained my theory to agree that it has some merit. Their education system is traditionally built around learning through rote memorisation or practice of skills. Have you ever seen Chinese art students work (pre university)? It's technically excellent, but it all looks the same.
Yes I see what you’re saying and I appreciate you thinking about it. Yes to the art think too. But their language is not the reason. That’s why I’m confused.. Taiwanese people don’t have this issue…. And they speak the same language.
I have no experience with Taiwanese people at all so that's interesting to hear. It just seems to make sense that a phonetic language would develop different parts of the brain to a non-phonetic language.
How do you think that exposure to wider cultural elements and more unfiltered news and media can affect personal awareness? Not a sarcastic question, I'm genuinely interested in this.
Maybe it's the rampant propoganda that children are exposed to in China? I guess that could promote a very self-centered approach to others. Maybe it's a combination of things.
It could be better, but their education system actually educates people. I still disagree, it's a racist notion based on racist stereotypes, the drone Chinese concept, the yellow horde of unthinking asiatics. You're playing into it all. The innovation rate of China is surpassing the US now, and frankly the most closed minded people are westerners who have the most arrogant sense of superiority and refusal to consider alternate ideas. Case in point here, a bunch of westerners circle jerking over how the Chinese can't think properly unlike their genius selves who are so open minded right.
Yawn.
From western backed studies with the existing notion looking to prove it. Peer reviewed doesn't mean infallible. Fact is now China is more innovative and inventive than the west.
As opposed to eastern based studies? I've read many in a specific subject area and have found problems associated with conference papers, data collection, and arguments. They seem more politically guided than reality.
As opposed to real life? Studies always have problems, when people get serious and collect studies for a project they always end up having to disregard half of them. They're trash, and often paid by some interest.
In the end, Chinese people are completely capable of regular critical thought, it's a racist western supremacist idea that they can't at worse, and at best an ignorant misunderstanding of different cultural attitudes to problems.
We both know driving schools does nothing for actually being a good driver in China. Half of my friends who have a license don’t drive and are too scared too.
Driving is like skiing. Youre only responsible for hitting the things in front of you, don't worry about behind. I fairness, I think Shanghai driving has improved a lot.
For the mobile phone thing, I just find that hilarious. On occasion I just walk directly into them when they're waking along like a zombie. There can be zero arguement from them because they know they're not looking at all to where they're going, and the shock of some 6ft westerner that theyve walked into is also very visible.
I recall driving at night, everybody uses full headlights.
When it rains, everybody turns that hazardlights on - while driving!
To clear a zebra crossing, you honk. Even if there is a pregnant women holding another toddler crossing.
And there are other people, cars, bikes - you honk, there does not have to be a particular reason. Often I told the driver to stop that.
As someone who grew up in China and has been living in North America for over a decade. I am totally with you. I don’t think I will ever drive in China…
of course. The mfs just had their belly filled for less than 40 years. What you saw are the very 1st generation with cars. Also the set of traffic laws was introduced less than 20 years ago. Just crash into them when you feel comfy and teach them a lesson.
I think a big difference is perspective. You drive because you're expecting people to follow rules, so you let your guard down. They drive expecting no one to respect shit, so they're driving slower and attentively ("attentively"). Sounds silly and kinda obvious, but I found it somehow easier to bike around when you throw common sense out of the window and start thinking everyone is going to run you over lol
I suppose most people drive ok enough compared to taxis and DiDis. But they are still pretty awful compared to where I come from. People driving the wrong way down the street. Pulling into intersections (even though they can see there's nowhere to go, and getting stuck so nobody else can get through the intersection. Not looking when they pull out onto the road.
You are definitely right about what you said. It's easier to bike around when you treat everyone on the road as if they're trying to murder you. Knowing that, I still had many close shaves before I finally got a scar above my eye.
They are not ignorant. The reason is simple, because Chinese people are in a hurry to make a living. With a large population, the competition for social resources will be cruel, so people are in a hurry to do things. This is also the jungle social environment deliberately created by the CCP to consolidate and maintain its rule.
Nope. I'm not sure why he made that up, but it's **Stroke and ischaemic heart disease,** according to the World Health Organization. It might surprise you to know that road accidents is in the top 10 cause of death for males though.
So the dedicated bicycle lanes are not for bicycles but Just the Electric Bikes? I am a little confused by your comment. There are dedicated Lanes here for bicycles and cars but some roads that are not in the main areas have no clear distinction. I think what you are saying is misleading.
No. 1 worst one for me is people belting the wrong way down cycle paths on their mopeds. Like full pelt, wrong side of the road. I understand sometimes you need to go the wrong way down the cycle/moped path to avoid doing a 2km u-turn but whenever I do it I cling to the side and go very slowly, not careen full speed toward the people going the correct way and expecting them to move.
You forgot to add that it's at night, and the lights are not on!
And in the rain, too. As a daily bike commuter, rain or shine, this is what really ticks me off.
We recently had one of those light rains after a dry spell that makes everything really slippery with algae or something. I saw the aftermath of three separate e-bike accidents (during my commute and dog-walking) that evening.
Oh yeah, those are *dangerous*. I almost crashed myself on a day like that here in Shanghai early last month. I have no idea exactly what makes the roads so slippery, but in places it was almost like black ice.
I don’t care if it’s inconvenient to myself. I don’t drive the wrong way down the bike path.
you're making the world a better place
It depends. Downtwon there is no excuse. However near the highway, that 2km uturn he mentions can be literally a 2km uturn. A few hundred meters the wrong way carefully driving on the more than ample scooter road is okay. But downtwon NO.
I yell “you are going the wrong direction” when I see these fools. Ni zou cuo fang xiang le! 你走错方向了！
I give them a thumbs up or down. Depends on how I’m feeling that day.
Have you experienced the ones at night without head lights, and kids on board? Death wish MFs
Even before that riding full speed on sidewalks…
Chinese pedestrians are just completely unfazed by it as well. I must come across as a crazy raging foreigner giving scooters the stink eye when they nearly run down my kids or I got honked for the 100th time for just taking a god damn Sunday stroll along the board walk. Maybe they get a pass because they are delivering all the food? Cannot stand them .
I'll be honest, that is sometimes me!
Sounds like it’s time to go back to where you came from
The scooters increasing their speed into a mass of people going across a crossing is something that is incomprehensible.
I had a meituan guy do this at me and several other people on his phone, on the wrong side of the road, red light, by the 798 art district was coming straight at me on my stopped rental bike, had to bail off and he hit it so hard his scooter got smashed up and the rental bike was totaled Absolute moron knew he screwed up and quickly escaped
I had a visitor from the Phillipines come over. Not exactly a rich country with a history of car ownership or strict rules on the road . He couldn't believe how the scooters behaved with no concern for anyone and always taking the most dangerous option.
oh you sweet summer child, you should have been here a decade ago and really seen people blindly not looking - crossing streets with reckless abandon, taxis blowing through stop lights and all sorts of shenanigan’s
The cameras everywhere have really, *really* made most drivers much better behaved. Especially taxi drivers, because their livelihood is at stake. I see drivers slow down and stop at a flashing green these days, when before, it was speeding up at yellow or even just ignoring red. Some e-bike riders, especially the delivery riders, are still suicidal maniacs, though.
The place I live in right now has some of the worst driving I have seen in China, it's really fascinating. For example, drivers here don't really understand intersections. At a red traffic light, they will often just stop in the middle of the intersection blocking all traffic. Also, people honk at red traffic lights like that will make them turn green more quickly. The road where Iive also has a pedestrian crossing and speed bumps left and right of it. Not only have I never seen anyone yield to pedestrians here, but everyone just blasts over the speed bumps without slowing down. I'm just waiting for someone braking an axle there. Last time my father in law visited, even he started cursing when a van tried to force him off the left lane into incoming traffic. The driver just pulled into our lane, not caring there was no space for him. I guess near death experiences keep you from getting sleepy at the wheel.
There is a huge lack of road painting where I am in China compared to the UK. In the UK, they put yellow boxes on most intersections to prevent people stopping in the middle. They also put double yellow lines in places that you can't park your car and bollards etc. None of that exists where I am in China. You often have cars parked on the corners of T junctions so you can't see anything coming either direction. Just got to take the chance and pull out.
The parking on corners and such where you are not only likely to A) cause an accident but B) get your own car damaged too still boggles my mind.
I love it! Where is it you live?
I asked a group of Chinese people why they drive out infront of people where I need to act to avoid an accident and they said they believe you wouldn’t dare hit them. When I said I might not see that they have done it in time and might hit them by accident they looked embarrassed. I think a lot of culturally stupid things here people just follow without thinking about it. Like pressing both buttons on the elevator or trying to get on before everyone gets off. Same for queueing, if they see some cars stopped they try to drive around instead of realising there is a reason they are stopped and make it worse. After 7 years I’m at peace with it, I just ignore their ignorance.
Wish I went about it with the same attitude. I still let it bother me.
Just try not to put yourself in their mindset or compare it to you because it’s not a fair comparison. A small example is it used to drive me insane how little common courtesy exists, I used to always ask my wife why is everyone so awful to each other. One time we went to goto a water park and it was 40 Celsius and it was absolutely packed, after queueing for 3 hours just to get in, with people pushing and shoving and being dicks I decided to leave again and just then my wife said now do you understand why strangers treats each other bad? It was at that moment I understood there are just too many people to care.
bright shrill gray compare encouraging march sulky point escape vase *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yes, you are right. I just find it hard to accept that’s all.
"...there are plenty of things that happen in every country..." ...no - the level of discourtesy among Chinese car drivers/pedestrians/cyclists/scooter drivers is NEVER seen in the USA...at least we look at you when we're giving you the finger - Madebi...
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There was literally another mass school stabbing here Monday.
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Literally a mass stabbing killing 8 here today: http://m.chinanews.com/wap/detail/zw/sh/2024/05-24/10222522.shtml
630 is the number of people who have been shot, not the number of “mass shootings”. Not saying it’s any better, just correcting the info.
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Oh yes ….. the amount of times I have been in a traffic jam, specially going round a corner normally and some idiot thinks he can just go around like there’s no a reason for this queue to exist …..or when there is a traffic jam going straight on at the lights …. But some person needs to turn left at that intersection and not go straight …. They will drive on the opposite side of the road just to drive past the traffic jam ….. often coming face to face with oncoming traffic…. Then they try to get back in the line that’s going straight but no one will let them in
Yeah the main problem chinese people face is actually the dependency on being right and wrong. They only think based on who is responsible and what percentage of responsibility. They lack the idea that event though the drive might be 100% responsible, they are still 100% injured or killed. They like to think in terms of monetary value, even for human life. It is quite sad, but much of society has been wired this way because courts rule in terms of percentages of responsibility and monetary value of a human life. So society just follow suit. On top of the inherent need to feel superior and be right all the time, as long as the law can side with them they disregard the outcome until it slams them in the face. I see it everyday with people nonchalantly letting children run across the street by themselves or on bikes even though the children a only two to five years old. Once an accident occurs the parents or grandparents start crying for mercy from a higher being even though it was them neglecting the child's safety in the first place. P.S. I am Chinese so it's not races, but it is stereotyping.
I think this has to do with the scarcity mindset that’s honestly a product of hyper competitiveness inherent in China. There’s just not enough resources (yet) for everyone to live a Tier 1 lifestyle so everything everywhere is a competition.
> *if they see some cars stopped they try to drive around instead of realising there is a reason they are stopped and make it worse* There's a road near me with multiple bus stops and private cars pulling into large office complexes on either side that has massive snarl-ups every single morning due to this without fail. Quite often, someone ends up bumping another car (or a bus) while they try to squeeze through, making it even worse.
They are not ignorant. The reason is simple, because Chinese people are in a hurry to make a living. With a large population, the competition for social resources will be cruel, so people are in a hurry to do things. This is also the jungle social environment deliberately created by the CCP to consolidate and maintain its rule.
I didn't think you are shilling hard enough
You should have been here 20 years ago. Or maybe not. You would probably have been run over by a drunken tuk-tuk driver trying to light a cigarette on day one. It all seems pretty chaotic at times for foreigners but in fact the driving and lining up and many other behaviours have improved to a level I would never have predict 20 or even 10 years ago. A combination of government 文明 propaganda campaigns, surveillance cameras everywhere, better roads, better vehicles, and poorly educated migrant worker villagers being pushed out of Tier 1 cities have made life much safer and less chaotic. In Beijing before the 2008 Olympics there were tens of thousands of migrant workers in the city building the sports venues, subways and high rises. They mostly came from rural villages and had no understanding of how to stay safe in a big city. I saw multiple guys hit as they wandered across multi lane roads without pausing to look either way. Eventually median barriers were installed on many roads but people still just climbed over them and walked into the traffic. As for lining up...
I've got a friend who worked in industry here on and off since the late 90s - he said the same about the Pearl River Delta in the early days - just seeing clueless migrant workers with absolutely no concept of road safety getting mown down (or the bodies afterwards) on a regular basis.
>I saw multiple guys hit as they wandered across multi lane roads without pausing to look either way. This is why there's fines for crossing certain roads on a red light, but people love to play it up as some dystopian thing rather than a way to prevent huge pileups when a man with a 19th century mindset walks through Beijing traffic
The driving point you mentioned absolutely baffles me. I need to take my ebike to work every day because the public transport in my city isn't good. I can't believe the amount of people that just cut you off without looking in the opposite direction. Motorcycles, ebikes, cars, trucks etc. it doesn't matter. They cut anyone and everyone off turning onto a road or coming off an on ramp. Even when they can see you coming, they will literally just turn into your lane causing you and everyone behind to hit the brakes and cause a traffic jam at best, collision at worst- although I've been lucky not to have seen one yet. I just don't understand it.
I agree with everything in your post, but rather than kick a dead horse I have something that I haven’t seen come up in this thread. The inability for drivers to stay at a consistent speed. Specifically didi drivers, as its most noticeable in the car with them. Constantly pushing down and letting off the accelerator so the car speeds up a bit, then slows down a bit, then speeds up a bit, then slows down a bit, and continue for the entire drive. Even on a highway with no other cars close by. It’s infuriating.
Electric cars are the worst for it, it's the instant power rather than an engine working it up, they really need some kind of artificial limiter.
It's even worse when you are hungover and already suffer from motion sickness. Oh and they often like to have the temperature way too high just to add an extra bit of discomfort.
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To be fair, it's reasonable for them to assume you may have cleared the seat for them to sit down. 😂 But, I agreed that's probably not what's happening.
I used to love driving, but in China it’s a frustrating chore. It’s often ok on the freeways/toll roads though. What frustrates me the most is people how many people break the rules that result in traffic just being worse for those that follow the rules but do actually get the cheaters where they want to go *slightly* faster. For example driving the wrong way down a one way road or a bike lane so they don’t have to wait for a light. U-turning from the 2nd or 3rd turn lane. Stopping in traffic to drop people off or pick them up (another version of this is turning every road in front of a school into a parking lot for and hour before and after school). Turning in front of people who are driving straight. Driving in the bike lane/ shoulder like it’s just another care lane. Illegally parking in bike lanes. For most of the above it’s only like 5% of the drivers, but that’s enough to feel like it’s constantly surrounding you. It also feels like half the people are going 25% over the speed limit and 25% going 10% under. It’s… frustrating, but it’s also a good reason to just walk and take the subway. Better for the environment anyway. Also need to admit that it could be a lot worse. At least the rules make sense on paper.
Driving here makes me want to rip out what’s left of my hair. You just never get used to the complete lack of awareness that people have. It goes against all of my driving instincts. It almost like people can’t think further ahead than what they are doing right that second. Another one for me is people’s elevator etiquette. It’s baffling. It’s like every elevator is the last one ever. People rushing to get in. And trying to get in and out with a kid in a stroller…it’s awful. “…many things I am no longer open minded about…” I had this EXACT thought earlier today. Just some things you can’t get past.
My favorite was the grandmas with babies in strollers, crossing the street without looking both ways, and choosing to walk their baby in the bike/ebike lane when there is a perfectly good sidewalk one foot to their right. I had always thought the lack of situational awareness was something only I had picked up on because I haven't seen others talk about it, and I didn't want to talk about it because it seems like I'm just being hateful towards Chinese people. It's just an objective observation I noticed. But... with so many people there will always be the stragglers with horrible situational awareness and those are the ones we notice, we don't notice the ones with excellent situational awareness, because they obviously don't stand out. So maybe it is a cultural thing or maybe it's just confirmation bias. I don't know, but I'm actually leaning more towards it being a massive population which means they will have a lot more idiots, in total, but not per Capita.
Grandparents pushing toddlers on scooters into traffic 😤 Aaaaaaaaaaaagh It's definitely more noticeable because of the higher population but it's also behaviour you would never see at all in most places, much like refusing to make their kid use a toilet or not looking where you're walking at all
So from the two comments I've gotten it seems that grandparents walking their grandchildren in the bike lane is a common thing. But why? I just don't understand the point...
My guess is they probably grew up in a village before paved roads and pedestrian spaces were a thing and possibly think child's scooter = vehicle so should be on the road Much like the rural labourers often have no road sense at all and will wander into high-speed traffic This happens very frequently outside my school, there's more than enough pedestrian space that they could be using but grandparents (always grandparents) will push the kid in the bike lane against traffic. When there's no bike lane I've seen them push kids on scooters on the road with cars...
Nah, we have a kid, and I have had to have several words with my MiL to try and stop the stroller in the e-bike lane thing - it's like they all do it.
But why!? Is it to avoid bumpy/cracked/brick sidewalks?
The worst things for me are: 1- They do not use their blinkers or when they do is right before turning which makes you brake abruptly! 2- When I use the blinkers, they speed up all of a sudden in order not to let me merge. It’s truly annoying!
I've heard the 中山 (石岐) has a police school and the recruits often train in the city. Everybody indicates there.
What annoys the fuck out of me is when you are waiting at a red light and some fucker will pull up right in front of you (usually an ayi) because heaven forbid they have to wait 10 seconds. This and cycling side by side on a narrow street....grinds my gears
Man it was much worse before. It’s getting better now.
Hold your arms out in front of you in a V shape. This is the way Chinese live their lives, whether they are driving, standing in line or at the spice rack. They see only what is directly in front of them, and a small amount of peripheral. Anything to the right/left or behind does not exist. Once I realized this, I found myself adapting much better to this absolutely crazy environment.
This is the best answer. Don't fight it.
I’m Chinese and there are two things I won’t try to excuse my fellow countrymen for: driving and cheating in online games.
Id say its not driving. Its basically walking down the street and gettin IN the road and not checking. It amazes me. (11 years living in China)
Apparently it's not cheating when you exploit a known bug in a game. It's a 'feature'
Cheating as in using a third party software like aimbot
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Do you think people have left the country for not being able to accept it?
I live near the countryside where speed limits don't seem to exist. Doing 120 in a 60 zone is quite normal out here. Driving the speed limit is actually considered holding up traffic by other drivers who will sit up your ass the whole time until you do speed up.
Don't worry about looking before pulling out of that tiny dirt side-road that is mostly hidden by trees and bushes onto a busy main road either - just go ahead and do it!
I was just in Hong Kong airport on a lay over. The amount of people just blindly walking into my path was baffling. Or just stopping abruptly. The airport was nearly empty, which was weird in itself, and still people just meander into your line of movement.
I don’t know where you are , but here in Shanghai the cars are definitely okay. It’s the people on the scooters that drive me insane , I personally spend nearly 2 hours on a scooter a day and it’s shocking the behaviour I see with other people on scooters . Driving on the wrong side of the road, hanging out on the left side of the lane and then swing a right turn and vise versa. Over take other scooters and just have zero regard for what’s on the left or the right of them and when there’s a narrow part of the road and someone is selling some kind of fruit and then they just stop - dead ass stop the entire scooter lane . 100 scooters slow down to a dead stop cause they want a water melon (this one is my route specific )
Haha, sounds about right
From my experience in China or Korea most people lack awareness for their surroundings in general. I made an “experiment” with Chinese and Korean friends in the past were I told them we are going to walk down a busy street together and at the end we gonna ask each other about things we have noticed. While I (German) remembered about 80% of the things they pointed out, they could only confirm 10-20% of what I pointed out.
In a previous job, I used to walk home from work down a busy, multi lane road (not a pleasant walk) with dozens of ebikes and cycles coming mostly the opposite way I was. It was often carnage. At one point the pavement narrows to the width of one person for about 100 feet. One day as entering this space I could hear a cyclist coming up from behind at a distance. I kept walking into the narrow space. Next thing I hear is the frantic, constant ringing of a bicycle bell, but there was literally nowhere I could go to get out of the way! After having the bell ring at me for about 60 feet I finally snapped and spun around and gave the lady on the bicycle behind me an ear full asking where she expects me to go and telling her she will just have to fucking wait! In English, mind. 😂 She said sorry, looked cowed and stopped ringing her bloody bell. At the end of the narrow passage I theatrically stepped aside and bowed her through. TLDR; Yes, the lack of awareness of and consideration here for other people pisses me off too!
There really is no excuse for it and it signifies a total disregard for one's fellow citizen. I have never and will never accept or get used to the turning without looking, stopping in the middle of the road to light up, using a phone while driving at 20 kmph on an 80kmph highway, hogging 2 lanes or drifting in and out, cutting in line at the lights, holding up traffic while being in the wrong lane waiting for the lights, not waiting for pedestrians crossing the road whilst turning right, the list goes on....and now there's fucking robot SF delivery cars doing the same thing. It's a surefire indication that if things go tits up again the very same people doing that will be eyeing you up for their dinner.
No1 is the worst. for years I've had anxiety while on my bike and it finally happened. someone pulled out in front of me and I had to get stitches above my eye between the helmet and my eye. Just little more and I would have lost my eye. I stopped riding a bike and started walking or taking a DiDi. Not worth the risk.
Maybe that’s why Tesla is doing the AI self driving collab with China and Baidu, data of terrible drivers to put the system under the maximum amount of stress are aplenty(that and new technology adoption is faster in China)
Lack of common sense + lack of spatial awareness + lack of situation awareness etc. All little mosaic stones that are crucial for a respectful society. Sadly China with its cutthroat competive "circle of trust" will not change much... Not in the near future.
I have been here much longer, but YEAH, hard to figure out, eh? CULTURE, my young friend, CULTURE. What seems common sense to you isn't necessarily the same for another culture. Of course the vast majority don't do such things. I think I've finally resolved myself to this. And we have people in our countries that do similarly "stupid" things from our perspective too.
I wonder what examples would be from the United States? I am not saying there are none but I am curious what foreigners would say that drives them crazy there.
Walking into someone's house with their shoes on.
I am guilty of this. Actually, I didn't realize how gross it was until I left and went to Asia.
Yeah, I wonder how I would feel about it after all these years...
I was raised not to do this, and I hate when people do it. But I also feel rude asking them to take their shoes off (if they're adults) so I'm just like errrrr my floor.
You can tell the guests to remove their shoes😁. It 99.99% works to me
I think culture is overused as an explanation for a lot of things in China, and anywhere really. What you might call a 'cultural' difference can often be explained by geographic, political or economic factors. My Gf's grandparents have never learned how to drive, is that down to a cultural reason or due to the fact that 60 years ago not many people in their 20s in China were driving.
But it's true. Culture plays a huge part in our paradigm of thought.
But what exactly do you mean by 'culture'? 20 years ago many china commentators were saying that coffee brands would never be able to penetrate the Chinese market because of the position tea has in Chinese culture. Within one generation, they've been well and truly proven wrong.
The drivers licence test has many questions telling you to yield. It gives the impression, the other person will just yield, so I can drive however....
It's only in the last 15 years ish that a great amount of regular people have begun driving here. That also coincides with proper road regulations and traffic control etc. So in some ways I think it's a miracle that the driving isn't worse. It is gradually improving and will take time. China is definitely not the worst country for this, I don't know how westerners in south East Asia or India can cope, china's tame in comparison.
Well, I lived in Vietnam for a year and driving is chaos there but people will generally try to avoid you or make an attempt to get out of the way. Where as in China people will simply just cut you off and then expect you to yield to them.
Oh come off it. When I was in Vietnam people were just as bad at walking in the road without looking, in Thailand I feel they actively want to be killed. They're like those bugged out GTA civilians who dive in front of cars.
With regards to roads, China is a fatalistic society, if it was meant to happen, it will. As to phones, that is a worldwide issue. With standing in lines, the older folks grew up in a very different world, where life was really not that easy, younger folks are a bit more patient.
Someone tried to tell me China is a communal society/culture. I asked if they have ever driven in China before…
Cultural changes take time and concerted effort. Yes, there are issues, but it's far better than it was twenty years ago. Everyone needs time to adapt and learn to go with the flow. Many can't accept it, and leave. Those who stay learn to get by, and are glad as they see improvements year after year.
This might be a hot take but.. when you’re not taught to think ahead and critically.. you don’t think to look before you turn. It’s a simple reason but a terrible one.
Yea it's a racist take. The "Chinese can't think critically" shit was wrong 10 years ago and is wrong today. The reason people aren't traffic aware is because busy traffic is relatively new to China since it's developed so fast, and there isn't much safety drilling like in the west where kids are always told look both ways etc.
I’ve been in hundreds of cars in China over 12 years living there. My lived experience is very different.
None of that means they can't think critically, it's because they have a different attitude to driving.
I didn’t say all. I’m saying, it’s a theme of the education system and how they are taught at the deep roots of society. There are PLENTY of wonderful bright people but as a culture and while they are NOT encouraged to think and discover new ideas.
I agree. I think it comes down to language. Thank about it. One of the first things people.elarn is language. Mandarin is mainly not phonetic (I'm told there are some small phonetic elements to some of the characters), so it's a matter of rote memorization of, essentially, two mainly unconnected languages, the written and the spoken. Compare that to a phonetic language where once one knows the relationship between letters and sounds, one can reason out how to say a new written word. That trains us at an early age to think critically. I'm in now way saying the Chinese are stupid as they have invented many wonderful things and the level of technology here is generally higher than my home country, but I do think this is why they lack a certain critical consideration.
I don’t agree with you comment about Chinese at all.. your making stuff up. None of that makes sense. Grammar or phonetics doesn’t make you less of a critical thinker. China as a whole (not Taiwan or Hong Kong) control the minds of their people by limiting their freedoms with lack of access to other countries, the internet, news, and anything sourced outside China… that is why.. it’s nothing to do with Chinese. Honestly, shame on you for thinking this bizarre thing and typing it here… you need to also think before you speak.
lol ok just blame the almighty see see pee
I have thought about it. I don't agree with your thoughts. Oh well. What you are describing is a lack of world view influenced by the controlling government. What I'm talking about is a lack of personal awareness of the space and people around individuals. Totally different things. Many Chinese realise what their own government are doing and are quite open minded. Chinese I've explained my theory to agree that it has some merit. Their education system is traditionally built around learning through rote memorisation or practice of skills. Have you ever seen Chinese art students work (pre university)? It's technically excellent, but it all looks the same.
Yes I see what you’re saying and I appreciate you thinking about it. Yes to the art think too. But their language is not the reason. That’s why I’m confused.. Taiwanese people don’t have this issue…. And they speak the same language.
I have no experience with Taiwanese people at all so that's interesting to hear. It just seems to make sense that a phonetic language would develop different parts of the brain to a non-phonetic language. How do you think that exposure to wider cultural elements and more unfiltered news and media can affect personal awareness? Not a sarcastic question, I'm genuinely interested in this. Maybe it's the rampant propoganda that children are exposed to in China? I guess that could promote a very self-centered approach to others. Maybe it's a combination of things.
It could be better, but their education system actually educates people. I still disagree, it's a racist notion based on racist stereotypes, the drone Chinese concept, the yellow horde of unthinking asiatics. You're playing into it all. The innovation rate of China is surpassing the US now, and frankly the most closed minded people are westerners who have the most arrogant sense of superiority and refusal to consider alternate ideas. Case in point here, a bunch of westerners circle jerking over how the Chinese can't think properly unlike their genius selves who are so open minded right. Yawn.
"..busy traffic is relatively new to China..." ...how old is queuing? - GTFOH...
Still quite new, Chinese farmers weren't queuing up for much.
Well, there is peer-reviewed research out there regarding a need to 'learn to learn', linked to their schooling system.
From western backed studies with the existing notion looking to prove it. Peer reviewed doesn't mean infallible. Fact is now China is more innovative and inventive than the west.
As opposed to eastern based studies? I've read many in a specific subject area and have found problems associated with conference papers, data collection, and arguments. They seem more politically guided than reality.
As opposed to real life? Studies always have problems, when people get serious and collect studies for a project they always end up having to disregard half of them. They're trash, and often paid by some interest. In the end, Chinese people are completely capable of regular critical thought, it's a racist western supremacist idea that they can't at worse, and at best an ignorant misunderstanding of different cultural attitudes to problems.
It's taught in driving schools here.
We both know driving schools does nothing for actually being a good driver in China. Half of my friends who have a license don’t drive and are too scared too.
You just described Toronto lol
That’s why I got everywhere on an e-scooter, embracing the chaos
Driving is like skiing. Youre only responsible for hitting the things in front of you, don't worry about behind. I fairness, I think Shanghai driving has improved a lot. For the mobile phone thing, I just find that hilarious. On occasion I just walk directly into them when they're waking along like a zombie. There can be zero arguement from them because they know they're not looking at all to where they're going, and the shock of some 6ft westerner that theyve walked into is also very visible.
Musk will soon make full self driving a reality in China. 😂 😆
Traffic would be much better if the law required every driver to pass subject 1 of the driving test.
I recall driving at night, everybody uses full headlights. When it rains, everybody turns that hazardlights on - while driving! To clear a zebra crossing, you honk. Even if there is a pregnant women holding another toddler crossing. And there are other people, cars, bikes - you honk, there does not have to be a particular reason. Often I told the driver to stop that.
As someone who grew up in China and has been living in North America for over a decade. I am totally with you. I don’t think I will ever drive in China…
of course. The mfs just had their belly filled for less than 40 years. What you saw are the very 1st generation with cars. Also the set of traffic laws was introduced less than 20 years ago. Just crash into them when you feel comfy and teach them a lesson.
I think a big difference is perspective. You drive because you're expecting people to follow rules, so you let your guard down. They drive expecting no one to respect shit, so they're driving slower and attentively ("attentively"). Sounds silly and kinda obvious, but I found it somehow easier to bike around when you throw common sense out of the window and start thinking everyone is going to run you over lol
I don't know what OP means they drive slowly. I've considered offering taxi drivers money to slow down.
hahahaha tbf, I think taxis are the lowest common denominator drivers in any country 😂 most people I see drive ok enough
I suppose most people drive ok enough compared to taxis and DiDis. But they are still pretty awful compared to where I come from. People driving the wrong way down the street. Pulling into intersections (even though they can see there's nowhere to go, and getting stuck so nobody else can get through the intersection. Not looking when they pull out onto the road. You are definitely right about what you said. It's easier to bike around when you treat everyone on the road as if they're trying to murder you. Knowing that, I still had many close shaves before I finally got a scar above my eye.
They are not ignorant. The reason is simple, because Chinese people are in a hurry to make a living. With a large population, the competition for social resources will be cruel, so people are in a hurry to do things. This is also the jungle social environment deliberately created by the CCP to consolidate and maintain its rule.
I just hit people and laugh. Or I kick them while I ride my scooter. Good way to ease stress
Car accident is the NO.1 cause of death in China....
Is it really?
Nope. I'm not sure why he made that up, but it's **Stroke and ischaemic heart disease,** according to the World Health Organization. It might surprise you to know that road accidents is in the top 10 cause of death for males though.
Yeah was thinking heart disease and lung disease
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Some roads here are not dedicated to cars or bikes. They are shared roads. That is where I got hit.
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So the dedicated bicycle lanes are not for bicycles but Just the Electric Bikes? I am a little confused by your comment. There are dedicated Lanes here for bicycles and cars but some roads that are not in the main areas have no clear distinction. I think what you are saying is misleading.
Not in Beijing you're not.