a.) cars don't follow traffic lights
b.) people create unofficial extra lanes
c.) scooters are everywhere. and they ignore lights/lanes
d.) people don't pay attention to traffic lights nor cars when they cross.
It worked while I have been there for 9 months in 2009, but it never become emotionless instinct to drive like that.
In common Russian usage the word for "blink" also means indicate-a-turn-with-signal and that is what I meant.
(d) People do pay attention when they cross the road. You have to, because cars can turn right at a red light and, even though they're meant to yield to pedestrians, they don't.
(c) Creating an additional lane is rare in big cities.
I'm not saying this idea is workable, but the points you make don't seem the most pressing.
This directly contradicts your first point
Most of the time? More so in Shanghai than Beijing, I still see cars doing very crazy things on a daily basis. I mean, what cop is going to dare and pull over a Black Audi?
> (d) People do pay attention when they cross the road. You have to, because cars can turn right at a red light and, even though they're meant to yield to pedestrians, they don't.
Most do, but after seeing a couple of cyclists hit and (probably) killed as they just blew through a red light, well, some obviously don't.
> (c) Creating an additional lane is rare in big cities.
Heck, 25% of the lanes in Beijing are being used for illegal parking, the scooters just spill out anywhere. Anyways, these buses I assume would only travel on very well regulated roads (if at all, this bus has been vapor for more than a few years now).
On (a), I said cars obey traffic lights. I didn't say they don't do other crazy things.
On (d), I said people look when they're crossing the road. I wasn't talking about cyclists going through an intersection. That's not what 'crossing the road' means in every day speech.
On (c), I was talking about creating an additional lane. I wasn't talking about illegally blocking an existing lane.
People don't look when they are crossing, they just go. I have to warn the driver to be careful at such intersection because there is always some old guy or gal crossing. The bikes are much more dangerous, as the cars are expected to, and can, just go around the pedestrians who don't give a f*ck about the light, but the bikes are always surprises.
Beijing used to have lots of bike lanes. Technically it still does, but it is all being used for parking. The four lane roads on either side of my apartment are effectively one lane roads since parking enforcement is non existent.
So traffic behavior has changed dramatically. People actuallywear seatbelts now! This is because they fine if you get caught even without a belt.
I wish abiut the seatbelts. Almost every single taxi I've been in for the last few years has them hidden under the back seat where they aren't usable. We have to take a zhuan Che just to get them for ourselves, and the the driver is never wearing. Any kind of enforcement in Beijing has a short attention span, they might do seatbelts once a year at a few locations, it isn't enough to form any kind of deterrent.
I find it a rather funny thing, why do they do that? I mean, if they are required to install seatbelts and they actually buy and install them, doesn't it cost the same to place them, you know, in their proper place?
Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou are better. Heck, even Kunming and hangzhou are better than Beijing, given there aren't so many officials in these cities.
Literal immunity in most cases, attitude on top of that.
And the GP's point (c) is spot on:
> c.) scooters are everywhere. and they ignore lights/lane
To elaborate - scooters and electric rickshaws basically ignore traffic laws altogether. Driving against traffic is basically their value proposition; that's what you use them for if you're brave enough to drive one / be driven in it. I've both been driven in one against traffic on the main road, and seen them passing us by, going in the wrong direction, when I was going to work by a cab.
Basically, traffic in (Shenzhen,) China looks scary and chaotic at first, but one can get used to it.
They do, if these rules are enforced by a 40t vehicle that can crush them to death.
> b.) people create unofficial extra lanes
See a).
> c.) scooters are everywhere. and they ignore lights/lanes
Se a).
> d.) people don't pay attention to traffic lights nor cars when they cross.
See a).
Chinese drivers may be "bad", but they aren't idiots. Only one side is ever going to lose an argument with that thing.