Road rage in China

[tbm3fan]

Look at that road and imagine 20 years ago it was nothing but bicycles. Not anymore and I can't say I fell sorry for them. Cars will just be another form of population control for them. However, I watched the movie and didn't think the driver, who changed lanes in front of another car, was the worst that I had ever seen at the last second. Yet what the driver did to the woman when he stopped her, pulled her out of the car to beat the crap out of her was something. The flip side is I don't think he is any better when it comes to the same thing except in this case he was bigger.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/24/asia/china-road-rage/index.html

Many in Asia, say China, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines drive as though they are the only car in the world with nary a look at what is around them. The only thing the Philippines has going for them is that the people are so patient with this type of driving and never get upset. With over 50 trips to the Philippines I have seen it all and been in countless cars with only once driving an SUV. Pays to let a native do it. Incredibly there are few accidents there between Filipinos during the day light hours. Probably the typical 15 mph speed traffic crawls at. When there is a crash it is usually a foreigner and a native because the foreigner doesn't think like a native.

 

[300rag]

...When there is a crash it is usually a foreigner and a native because the foreigner doesn't think like a native.

It seems to be the same here.

 

[Yatzee]

Except we have to buy insurance, pay a fortune to transfere ownership, buy plates, maintain them and lose our shirts on the price of fuel and all associated taxes. A license to operate a motorcycle in India is about two hundred and fifty feet with out falling over and is next to free. Life behind the wheel here is a story unto it's own - you know what I mean.

 

[commando1]

When cut off and being forced to jump on the brakes and doing a sharp swerve maneuver, the penalty should be changed to a thorough beating with a baseball bat.

 

[53ryder]

After driving a public transit bus for +33 years I guess I've grown numb to cars cutting me off. It's like my day isn't made until someone makes a close call! Planning on retiring in about 4 more years when I'm 66.

Glenn

 

[furyus 67]

Call me old fashioned but that was ignorant of him to do! Not saying I've never pulled someone outta their car but definitely not a woman. That's mild compared to NYC,Boston or Chicago as far as a last minute lane changes go!! Anybody that ever driven I75 near auburn knows that!!Somebody should have beat his ***!

 

[MarPar]

take em off a yak, burro or any other beast of burden and put them into a 2 ton missile without any training on how to handle it and it's not going to be pretty...

 

[68blackbird]

I wonder if he would have done the same thing if when he opened the door it was Yao Ming or Jackie Chan?

 

[53ryder]

I wonder if he would have done the same thing if when he opened the door it was Yao Ming or Jackie Chan?

Or a guy that was bigger than him?

Glenn

 

[amazinblue82]

The big cities..Shanghai and Beijing..tough places to drive AND be a pedestrian. On company business they never let us drive there...even the ex-patriates had drivers. W

Wanna merge/change lanes? Our driver would lay on the horn, and bull-doze his way in. Red Light? Honk at the guy in front of you ANYWAY to let him know he better move as soon as that light changes. Other crazy stuff to numerous to mention.

On a pedal bike or motorized scooter in Beijing? your life is in danger every second it seemed to me..it was unnerving to watch dozens of close-calls and knock-offs (biker bumped by a car and toppled)..

Out in the country in China, and I kid you not, I was there for 8 days and EVERY night there was a car accident between a pedestrian/livestock. Deadly accidents, with the "devastation" still visible in the morning..and I will leave out the gory description of what I saw.

But take Tokyo Japan, every bit as crowded as Shanghai, but much more "civilized" drivers/pedestrian interactions was my experience. Very little road rage that i could tell in the six months I was posted there. Hardest thing to get used to there was the whole right-hand drive deal...steering wheel on right side, flow of traffic on the left side, like Great Britain.

 

[amazinblue82]

One more, different continent:

I was posted to Paris for three years. Company let us drive there.. First day on the "Peripherique" (the circular "expressway" around Paris), the motorcyles were passing on left and right BETWEEN cars during rush hour. Pretty rude/dangerous I thought.

A cyclist (not a policeman..just some guy on a motorcycle) was on my left, honking/flashing lights at me to move to rignt and let him pass. I ignored him. He got is moment to pass and as he did, he knocked off my driver side mirror with his fist as he passed, plus gave me the universal sign of friendship: the "bird".

He repeated his pattern of honking/weaving ahead of me...and the drivers' all gave way until I couldn't see him anymore. The lesson my colleagues at work gave me was I was in the wrong for not letting him pass..got what I deserved.

Last one. In the etoile (think "roundabout" in US terms - see pic below) around the Arc de Triomphe, the people IN the circle have to yield to INCOMING traffic.

yes, you simply drive into the mass of vehicles in the circle from the nine feeder streets...and the drivers in the circle are supposed to let you in. Yield at entrance like we do in USA? heck no..you'd get rear-ended...as my wife learned unfortunately.

 

[polara71]

My school of thought on " circles " handed down through generations, " get a fender in and go like Hell " .

 

[amazinblue82]

My school of thought on " circles " handed down through generations, " get a fender in and go like Hell " .

then you'd fit right in in the French Etoiles...and Beijing, Taipei, and Hong Kong....cuz thats how you do it. fortune favors the brave in Asia!

btw the arc de Triomphe Etoile has NO lane markers in the circle, its about eight to ten cars abreast, going 60 kph (36 mph), zigging/zagging cuz eventually you gotta exit the thing, ALL while watching a speeding Citroen entering from your right blind spot, a Mercedes taxi in your left blind spot, a Peugeot driver who keeps tapping her brakes in front of you, a Renault mini-van riding your butt...again at almost 40 mph.

I would scare the crap outta stateside visitors, as I was initially, by specifically driving into the thing. A demo derby but with no collisions. When I learned how to navigate it, it was kinda fun. Seriously. My kids (8 and 10 at the time) would raise their arms, like we do on roller coasters, when we drove through it...it was hoot.

There is actually a tunnel that connects the Grand Armee to the Champs de Elysses (the names of the two main streets on opposite sides of Arc) ..the French long ago figured out that a bypass through the area was prudent as "le voiture" proliferated

 

[polara71]

That's how it used to be in Jersey circles . The, somewhere around 1990 they decided they were unsafe and pulled out the major ones.

Now, they are installing them all over S J as traffic control

 

[amazinblue82]

Call me old fashioned but that was ignorant of him to do! Not saying I've never pulled someone outta their car but definitely not a woman. That's mild compared to NYC,Boston or Chicago as far as a last minute lane changes go!! Anybody that ever driven I75 near auburn knows that!!Somebody should have beat his ***!

furyus 67, you know our major Interstate numbers...75, 90, 96 ... also are the minimum speed limits. If you are doing 70 (the legal speed limit), you must be driving on the shoulder versus the traffic lanes .:grin:

Seriously, if you're talking I-75 through Auburn Hills/Pontiac..yeah, that's the "Wild West" of aggressive driving. Cutoffs, no signal lane changes, 80 to 15 to 80 mph, etc between 3pm and 6pm every weekday.

For my purposes, I will NEVER get into it with somebody on the road for doing something stupid to me. No dirty looks, no retaliation of any kind, ...even though I am mad as hell ... cuz you just dunno with people. I just keep driving and 10-15 minutes later I will have forgotten all about it.

The incident up here in Howell Michigan last year comes to mind (for non-locals, one guy shoots another guy in the face and kills him over some non-contact road incident between them. nobody touched anybody, yet somebody winds up dead -- in the "suburbs" no less).

 

[commando1]

EVERYbody down here is armed. From 9 to 9O.
Even I have stopped getting into it with anybody.

 

[patrick66]

An armed society is a polite society.

 

[tbm3fan]

...and everyone says California drivers are nuts. After listening to some I am not so sure about that in the U.S.

 

[furyus 67]

That's good logic blue!! I had a buddy get into a road rage fight a couple years ago. He whooped this guy at hill and 75 while the guys kids and old lady watched. My buddy wasn't the aggressor in the situation but he wasn't backing down either. I thought what kinda knuckle head wants to start a fight with his family in car. I haven't been in a fight in probly 10 yrs. don't much want to anymore, like you guys said "EVERYbody is carrying!"