Beijing Traffic
As I mentioned in some of the earlier entries, the traffic in China is really something to experience. From what I can gather the rules of the road are as follows:
1. There are no hard rules
2. Crosswalks mean nothing
3. Lines on the road are a guideline only
4. Pedestrians have no right of way even if they are in a so called crosswalk
5. Honking is expected and is somewhat of a courtesy. It is not like honking in North America that usually comes with rude finger gestures and road rage.
6. Bigger vehicles always get the right of way
7. Any type of vehicle is allowed. We saw three wheel motorcycles that had loads on the back that were about 12 feet tall and looked a bit unstable.
8. It is okay to walk across a multi lane road and stop between lanes to wait for breaks in the traffic. This made me think of the old video game called “frogger”.
9. Sidewalks are fair game for smaller vehicles and motorcycles
When walking across the road we did it in large groups because then vehicles tended to grudgingly give way. Because there is so much traffic nobody actually went that fast which is probably one of the main reasons why there weren't many accidents.
The following video clip was taken of an intersection near our hotel in Beijing. Note that it is not rush hour. In rush hour it would be twice as busy. Also, in Beijing the traffic was a bit more orderly than it was in Changsha. In Changsha we had to jump a couple of times when vehicles came up behind us on the sidewalk.
1. There are no hard rules
2. Crosswalks mean nothing
3. Lines on the road are a guideline only
4. Pedestrians have no right of way even if they are in a so called crosswalk
5. Honking is expected and is somewhat of a courtesy. It is not like honking in North America that usually comes with rude finger gestures and road rage.
6. Bigger vehicles always get the right of way
7. Any type of vehicle is allowed. We saw three wheel motorcycles that had loads on the back that were about 12 feet tall and looked a bit unstable.
8. It is okay to walk across a multi lane road and stop between lanes to wait for breaks in the traffic. This made me think of the old video game called “frogger”.
9. Sidewalks are fair game for smaller vehicles and motorcycles
When walking across the road we did it in large groups because then vehicles tended to grudgingly give way. Because there is so much traffic nobody actually went that fast which is probably one of the main reasons why there weren't many accidents.
The following video clip was taken of an intersection near our hotel in Beijing. Note that it is not rush hour. In rush hour it would be twice as busy. Also, in Beijing the traffic was a bit more orderly than it was in Changsha. In Changsha we had to jump a couple of times when vehicles came up behind us on the sidewalk.
posted by Helen and Larry | 5:36 p.m.
1 Comments:
Great footage AND commentary..giving me afew giggles for sure!!...you know Larry, you should look into writing as a hobby one day. Or even start a humourous journal on the day to day life of a parent...bet one day you could publish something like that...would be a good read especially for all the parents who could relate to your humourous anecdotes...something to think about!!
Jeep the blog going..I chck it at least once a day and look forward to new additions!!
Hugz to everyone!!
love
Donna
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