More Crazy Traffic Tidbits

 I will say that traffic here in Changzhou isn't nearly the scene it was in Shenzhen in 2004 when I visited.  Cars have only been part of China's traffic system for 20-30 years so 2004 was early in this era.  The roads weren't paved well, not a line painted on the street, very little order, including people walking down the middle of the road going the opposite way of traffic.  If what I saw was indicative of most places, they've come a long way in 18 years--and it's a really good thing.  However, there are still many many issues.

1) Pedestrians don't take precedence.  We've been with Wang Jian while passing people within 3 feet or so of them and he DOES NOT slow down.  (I try not to make too many squeaks of terror from the back seat, but a few do escape.)  This is very common.  Wang Jian is a *very* cautious driver compared to taxi drivers and delivery dudes.  If you are in a cross walk, you are fair game.  Proceed with great caution. Very great caution.  If you are in the way, you just get a honk for warning that they aren't stopping.  

2)  Tight Fits.  If you need to get through, you just see what you can do to weasel it.

So this guy has a small ladder on his scooter with him.  Can he make?

Yes he can!  Also note how closely the cars are parked to the barriers.  This is on a sidewalk, mind you.  

This tight fit is astounding as is.  But what would you say if you knew it was a Porsche?  

Just look how nicely that fits on the sidewalk.  No ticket for him!

Truth be told, I did hear some scraping on this passage.

But don't you worry one bit.  The driver heard it too and backed up just a bit to stop the scraping on one side--only to scrape on the other. 

Once it passed through, the driver just kept on his merry way. Not a worry in the world...

  

3) Now onto left hand turns. Umm, yeah. U-turns.  Heck yeah they happen.  Check out the two videos below and you can see what I'm talking about. These videos are not "I got lucky and happened to get something on camera". These are everyday occurrences.  The only time you can't make a left turn/u-turn is if there is an actual barrier preventing it.  This doesn't hold true for scooters though, because they go down the wrong side of the street in oncoming traffic all of the time.  The prevailing rule seems to be "if there is a little gap, take it". Another puzzling thing about left turns and u-turns here is that people make them from the outside lane.  All. The. Time.  

On this one, I had the camera outside of our window so you can't hear Tom very well telling how a stoplight went out. He said that the cars just all went at once.  You may want to watch this one a few times: once watching cars, once watching scooters, once watching people.  All so interesting! (I'm a terrible video narrator, I can't watch things happen and talk at the same time, apparently!)

This video ends abruptly because our taxi arrived.  And the nuts we were talking about were chestnuts.

4)  Something might be illegal, but that doesn't stop anyone.  *If* you do get pulled over, you can pay the police some money directly to get out of it.  (I would think that the police should be the highest paid people in China because there are infractions on every block every hour... however, there are so few traffic enforcers.)  Somehow they think this is a win-win situation.  What it creates is a situation where there is in essence no law.  Also, it is not a law to slow down, pull over or get out of the way when sirens/flashing lights are present.  We can't figure out what they are used for, but there are a lot of things we're still trying to figure out.

5)  Given all of this, Tom still bought a scooter.  Yes.  I know.  

But I assure you we are always a helmet-wearing family, unless it's on the night you buy it just to ride it around the complex.  Nor do we ever ride more than 2 on it at a time, unless it meets the exception listed above.

And now we get to experience our own tight fits, thanks to others snuggling their scooter right next to ours for the night.  Since this, Tom has learned to park in the far corner since scooter dominoes are not that much fun....

Parking in the corner has different drawbacks.....

All in all, we're still alive.  But you may say a prayer or two for us.....

By way of note.  We paid around $700 for the scooter.  Tom wanted the Segway brand (Ninebot here) because he trusted it and also because it has a removable battery so we can charge it in our apartment instead of having to vie for a charging spot in the 'non motorized vehicle library' (you can see what kind of problem that could be....)  Every single Chinese person has told him he spent WAY too much money.  In fact they are astounded.  Most other scooters are only $200-$500.  But $700 felt very cheap to us.  One website I looked at said that the Segway kick scooter (🛴)was a great deal at Costco for $659.  So I guess it just depends on your perspective!