Where Everyone’s a New Driver
Being a pedestrian or a passenger in a car is particularly terrifying in modern day China. Drivers don’t pay much mind to the many newly painted crosswalks. Pedestrians must tread very, very carefully.
Imagine a place where millions of drivers have only recently earned a driver’s license. However, lack of experience doesn’t relate to lack of confidence. They zip in, out, and around, taking wider turns than big buses do. A warning honk seems to precede cutting in front of or around another car or pedestrian.
Seat belts in the front seat are optional and for the fainthearted, except on highways where the seat belt law is actually enforced. The back seat is a seatbelt-less zone. Yes, there are traffic laws, but they’re considered merely suggestions — unless there’s a policeman around. Same for double parking and U-turns.
Narrow alleyways through old apartment complexes were never meant to accommodate cars, but they have no choice now that properous residents have cars, but no parking spaces. My friend parked on one side of a tiny alley; another car parked along the other side of the skinny alley. I remarked that even though both cars were legally parked, no one else could get through. She summed up the Chinese approach quite simply, “We don’t care.”
With bright headlights glaring at night, lane lines considered irrelevant, cell phones almost always in hand, and an abundance of highly dangerous rotary intersections, China is literally on the move. Watch out!
Tags: Driving in China, Travel
