Driving in China

I've heard tales of how crazy people drive in China. Only the brave cross roads apparently.

I always thought it was curious how satellite images catch aircraft in flight, though it is quite logical.

But what are the chances of a passing satellite catching a car crash moments after its happened?

Beijing

Well in a way you can say that driving in China is crazy, but if you take a ride long enough it is like there is a structure in the chaos where there are mutual understandings between drivers. The only problem in China right now on the road are people that are driving without license or without proper training.

Welcome to Asia! I say Asia because the mad style of driving isn't unique in China but all over Asia. Equally among the worst are drivers in Taipei with drivers executing the U-turn from the outer lane; in Manila, particularly the infamous Jeepney drivers that stop practically where ever they want; and in Thailand. Some of the driving styles aren't matched anywhere in the world but wait until you see how things are in Italy.

in Manila, particularly the infamous Jeepney drivers that stop practically where ever they want

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Amen.

When I was first stationed in the Philippines at indoctrination class they warned us that the manner of driving in the Philippines was "hap-hazard" at best.

We use to say that you don't need a rear view mirror because you had better keep and eye out in front of you. And STOP means Step Throughly On Pedal.... The gas pedal!

I have been to Soviet Russia many times. I have Driven there and once got a ticket for doing a U turn in Red Square.(1987) I could not see what I had done wrong, because I was following the vehicle in front of me. But I got off by giving the police offer a 6pack of coca cola.
I used to have to go to Finland a lot... company business, and once getting the necessary papers, drive to Leningrad for drinking with my Finnish hosts.Many a time we passed the police with their old style radar (the ones that were about the side of a Household Rubbish bin in diameter and about 18 inches in length. They couldnt have worked very well because as we flashed past them , they would be in a high state of physical activity unbolting their radar or something.. WE suspected they were only selectively stopping non resident cars, eg volvos bmws etc.
Actually I use to carry a lot of stockings for the ladies ( I ended up with looking at ladies legs so often it became a fetish so I stopped.Even now I cant help admiring a nice pair of feminine legs. I also had Lada carparts (especially wipers) or brake pads, spark plugs which one would give out as well.
Anyway after a dozrn or so trips to the USSR I scored a pair of Russian army boots which i had admired along with a jacket with the shoulder flashes indicating that they were border security. I think. All that for $50US. They were pretty new so I dont know how he would have explained his missing uniform to his NCO.

Bladerunner..friend you've had quite an life..LOL.

Most of that stuff would not work in the US. The vast majority of the police in the US are very professional. Plus they are heavily armed.

By the way getting back on subject I'd say of all the Asian countries I have visited, Singapore have the "Safest" drivers...

No No No, One never offered it to them beforehand,, mostly they would say they were given you are warning ticket and then you would give them something in appreciation.
And one was quite aware spares for the Lada, were much appreciated as they were poorly maintained, quite often you would see the police underneath their cars making running repairs.

yeah, the Soviet driving style has surely sticked into Estonians, wich from my personal experience is rather hasasrious place to be driving....everytime I've been there, I have had those near death experiences of suddenly seeing four cars coming towards you in a rank

crobato said:

Welcome to Asia! I say Asia because the mad style of driving isn't unique in China but all over Asia.

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Don't drivers in Hong Kong scold you for not paying attention if their car hit you? :roll:

Germany is fun. Nice to see German autos doing NASCAR on the Autobahn--cars all bunched up and with the pedal to the metal. Now you know why German cars are built like the way they are.

When I first came to China long ago, I used taxis which were at that time, based on Russian Ladas. Or I think its a Chinese copy of a Russian Lada which in turn was a copy of a sixties FIAT. Dang they must have shocks made of cement, and Chinese roads were not as well built then. The drivers certainly don't pamper these cars, they drive them aggressively so its easy to get car sick. That was a long time ago, before these babies were phased out by Volkswagen Passats.

I loved to see the old Chinese motorcycles that were copies of Russian Urals, which in turn was a copy of the WWII German BMW motorcycle the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union with. Even if the face of modern bikes, first by Japanese imports then by indigenous designs, the Ural clones continue to be made. In olive green, they look like mint conditioned vintage bikes more suitable for collectors but don't mistake them for that, they're an essential stable horse for many a Chinese farmer, sold either directly from them or former PLA bikes in their second lives. I especially like to see them with side cars.

I hope they never stopped making these bikes, the Chang Jiang 750.





It seems that for collectors, former PLA bikes are the prize.