Driving In China; Wuhan And Beijing

In China I witnessed the craziest and worst driving I have ever seen. The drivers in China make New York drivers look patient and cautious and drivers in Peru, where there is no test for a license, look experienced. The roads overflow with drivers, motorcyclists, and bicyclists that are all what I like to call kamikaze drivers. Drivers do not pay attention to the markings on the road, or the road signs, or even other cars or people.
Surprisingly, I did not witness any car accidents, but after doing some research I learned that there are around 800,000 car accidents a year. What is even more shocking is that I did not see one ambulance or fire truck either just an abundance of police cars but never saw anyone pulled over. I did see a police car beep at a car several times until the car switched lanes so the officer could pass.
Drivers in China drive as if there are no traffic laws and rely heavily on their horns. In both Beijing and Wuhan there was constantly the sound of drivers slamming their horn and beeping at everyone and everything. Even when drivers pass a car, they beep at the other driver to show their impatience. In Vermont, it is considered extremely rude to beep the horn at another driver. But in China drivers speak with their horns.
In Beijing I saw and waited in the worst traffic I have ever witnessed. In fact, there are so many vehicles on the road in Beijing that your plate number determines what days of the week you can drive. Also, in downtown Beijing the roads are so congested that you cross the streets via underground walk ways because there are barriers between the sidewalks and roads. After all, China is the world’s most populated country and Beijing is home to 22,000,000 and during the week there are even more people there for work.
Anyways, the roads are filled with cars, busses, trucks, motorcycles and scooters, and bicycles. The drivers don’t pay attention to road markings, especially the lane markings. Only in China can drivers make a two-lane road into three lanes and a four-lane road into seven lanes. Cars are weaving in and out of traffic as if there are no traffic laws.
While driving in China, our China Mojo group was on our bus when the driver decided to make a 3 point turn in the middle of a main street in downtown Wuhan. He completely blocked all traffic, yet some cars still managed to squeeze by. Every driver seems to be in a rush and will stop for no one, not even pedestrians. Pedestrians never have the right of way unlike in Burlington, VT. These kamikaze drivers make the roads of Beijing seem very dangerous and intimidating to people.

( a Youtube video of the traffic in China )