Posted On: Thursday - September 21st 2023 7:44AM MST
In Topics: Cars China Peak Stupidity Roadshow
(Continued from **Planes**, **Planes-II**, **Trains**, **Trains-II**, and **Trains-III** of our Dispatches from The Middle Kingdom: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles series.)
Peak Stupidity already has one cars-in-China post up, call it **Automobiles-0**, mainly because I was enamored with the brand TrumpChi.
I could pull up a "file photo" for you readers, with some big mess of traffic over in China or any big Oriental city. Instead, I'll just keep using my own photos. I didn't think to snap - "snap", that's old school, huh? - any shots of traffic in general, but more regretful for me is that I never took any video long ago when the traffic was even crazier.
I don't mean there's less traffic now, no, far from it. It's just that more barriers have been put up to keep the flow more sane. 15 years ago, I stayed for a while on the 8th floor or so of a hotel that overlooked an INSANE intersection. For people used to some rules of the road, and, more so before the PanicFest, traffic cops around, it was insane, but the Chinese drivers, truckers, bikers, scooter riders, pedestrians, you name it, did a pretty sane job turning, merging, and stopping wherever without so much as a scratch. I was impressed. I could have stayed there watching for hours.
That wasn't one of them, but I saw blind T-intersections at which Chinamen and women on all types of conveyances would not stop moving and somehow all merge onto the bigger road. I'm not saying nothing every happened - saw one fairly minor incident just after the fact - but, if this were the US, I can just tell you that drivers couldn't handle it. There'd be blood on the streets, and not necessarily from the vehicle injuries either.
We joke about Oriental drivers, such as middle-aged ladies creeping down the fast lane with their turn signals on for miles at a time. It's funny cause it's true! I've seen it myself. I figure that this reputation and fact is due to immigrant Chinese people in the past having learned to drive here, and often at a more advanced age then we Americans. Learning at 40 y/o vs 15 y/o is so much different regarding reaction times, nervousness and judgment. In China itself, I imagine the average driver today learned at a more advanced age than we do here.* Then, why the amazing job over in China? It's stressful mind you, but they're pretty good.
The random horn honking that I remember from the past seems to have subsided some. What I noticed was that auto horns are used for their ACTUAL purpose, which is as a warning device. Drivers use quick taps on it to warn another driver that the former is getting really damn close to the other and no so sure that he knows that yet. There are still those drivers that apparently are under the impression that without continual honks of the horn, the vehicle will brick up.
That's enough about the drivers. In that "TrumpChi" post I already wrote a little about the types of cars I saw. I will mention now that there is some innovation in traffic signaling hardware (and software) that I like. See, we have countdown timers at certain intersections for pedestrians, which, if the view is OK, help drivers figure out approximately when the light will turn.** In China, the engineers have formalized this, as seen below.
That was not in the big city either. It's from that "village" of about a million. Good idea, anyway.
As with everything in China now, it's all going electronic. I'll write about the taxi service in the next "Dispatches" post, but, man, the reliance on the phones is worse than it is here. They've got their navigation apps, but, seriously, this is part of a hour and 3/4 trip down the Interstate*** that the driver has taken dozens of times. You just go down the road. You surely aren't going to lose your way in the tunnel!
(Note: Signs look weird due to blogger redaction. Who knows what it said anyway?
* If one went back maybe 35 years to the mid/late 1980s, I bet he'd find that 90% of Chinese families had no one able to drive a car. There was a lot of Mao/Communist ruin still in the nation.
** It's not quite that easy, as they have widely varying lag times between that "0" for the pedestrians and the change to green. You've got to know the place.
*** OK, the Freeway if you're a Californian. In China, the Interprovince, perhaps?
Comments:
MBlanc46
Friday - September 22nd 2023 8:47AM MST
PS Except for the red auto, it all looks so gray and so, um, Communist. Not that there aren’t plenty of places in the former USA that aren’t very pleasing to the eye.
Moderator
Friday - September 22nd 2023 7:16AM MST
PS: M, I don't think American drivers would EASILY get used to the constant attention that this kind of driving takes, though. (Wish I had video, dang it!) That doesn't mean they couldn't ever, as I'm sure our reflexes, visual judgement,etc. could be as good or better. We are used to having some room and taking it easy. This is really stressful. I think it would take a while and some people would have to get "weeded out" in some way.
Now, on the Chinese versions of the Interstates, I don't see a difference - yes, same crap with people in the left land not finishing passing and just sitting in that lane! Now, that's a rule of the road, that not so many people around the world seem to get.
I did see it work in Germany (of course!). However, the 4 lane (2 each direction) autobahns were tough because truckers were limited to something like 100 km/hr = 61 mph, while BMW's blew by in the fast land at... whatever. In the meantime, I wanted to go about 80 mph =~ 140 km/hr, so passing was hairy. On the 6-lane (3 each way) autobahns, it all worked out great. This was 20-odd years ago. I'm not sure the new arrivals are or will be ever up for German rules and efficiency.
Now, on the Chinese versions of the Interstates, I don't see a difference - yes, same crap with people in the left land not finishing passing and just sitting in that lane! Now, that's a rule of the road, that not so many people around the world seem to get.
I did see it work in Germany (of course!). However, the 4 lane (2 each direction) autobahns were tough because truckers were limited to something like 100 km/hr = 61 mph, while BMW's blew by in the fast land at... whatever. In the meantime, I wanted to go about 80 mph =~ 140 km/hr, so passing was hairy. On the 6-lane (3 each way) autobahns, it all worked out great. This was 20-odd years ago. I'm not sure the new arrivals are or will be ever up for German rules and efficiency.
M
Friday - September 22nd 2023 3:20AM MST
PS
"if this were the US, I can just tell you that drivers couldn't handle it."
If the US changed from US "rules of the road" (most of which aren't written) to Chinese rules (or e.g. Italian), there would be chaos for about a day.
Then everyone would know the new rules and things would settle down.
It only looks chaotic because they're not following the rules that you have in your head.
"if this were the US, I can just tell you that drivers couldn't handle it."
If the US changed from US "rules of the road" (most of which aren't written) to Chinese rules (or e.g. Italian), there would be chaos for about a day.
Then everyone would know the new rules and things would settle down.
It only looks chaotic because they're not following the rules that you have in your head.
Moderator
Thursday - September 21st 2023 7:20PM MST
PS: "I understand the above concept, not from U.S. traffic-control technology, but from what I learned during my courting days." Haha. That stuff is still a mystery, run by spaghetti code.
Regarding your last paragraph, with the interest in learning in the broad sense, we've all seen that it's easier to learn most things when younger. There could be a lot more to it, though. If you or anyone has more to comment on this, feel free. It doesn't have to be about China, or driving.
Thanks for the comment, SafeNow.
Regarding your last paragraph, with the interest in learning in the broad sense, we've all seen that it's easier to learn most things when younger. There could be a lot more to it, though. If you or anyone has more to comment on this, feel free. It doesn't have to be about China, or driving.
Thanks for the comment, SafeNow.
SafeNow
Thursday - September 21st 2023 7:10PM MST
PS
“It’s not quite that easy, as they have widely varying lag times between that "0" for the pedestrians and the change to green.”
I understand the above concept, not from U.S. traffic-control technology, but from what I learned during my courting days.
The discussions of differences in driver psychology, and the effect of learning age, are fascinating to me. Fascinating with respect to the driving,
and fascinating because I then started extrapolating to wonder what significance this might have in a broader behavioral sense.
“It’s not quite that easy, as they have widely varying lag times between that "0" for the pedestrians and the change to green.”
I understand the above concept, not from U.S. traffic-control technology, but from what I learned during my courting days.
The discussions of differences in driver psychology, and the effect of learning age, are fascinating to me. Fascinating with respect to the driving,
and fascinating because I then started extrapolating to wonder what significance this might have in a broader behavioral sense.
In answer to your question, this is the sort of thing I'll write about in further posts. I should have noted that this scene is in one part of one of the 2 big cities we stayed in - the 3rd place being the "village" of a million people, and the other one being Peking. There's lots of new stuff, but this is how the old China looks. I wouldn't say "old" as in the Mao-Communist times even, just since things really started booming 20-25 years back. This is an alley behind some nice buildings. There is still a mix of old and new.
The reason the medium-old stuff looks crappy is that there is still no compunction for Chinese people to maintain the outside of and common areas inside (stairwells, for example) structures, for incentive reasons. (There's some deal about the property reverting to the government after 70 years. However, I was in a place that looked like it was 30 years old from the stairwells and outside, but I found out it was less than 10 y/o.)