Had an accident

Lightend and Pete are right. The Chinese are taught to drive slowly, but not carefully. Or taught to drive or park in a 'civilized' (wen ming) way but are never told what that actually is. To me most of the people on the road are at best inconsiderate or incompetent, and at worst sociopathic and psychopathic. Look at the way car drivers block pedestrian crossings in a traffic jams, they gain nothing except preventing other people from being able to cross the road. Their driving/riding/walking and parking are awful, yet they seem to have woven some pretty sophisticated rationalizations for their actions.

I messed up this post a bit...

Head on a swivel - 360 degree vision at all times.
Approach a green light the same as you would a red.
Expect everything - Drivers performing maneuvers without indicating or even looking, others flying out of side roads without looking or slowing down and The Spanish Inquisition.

...That barely covers it but it's worth being mindful of.

I'll just say what a lot of us actually think deep inside:

"Complete retards when participating in any traffic activities! 5000 years of civilization my ass, when you look at traffic behaviour. Cars screw bicycles, cars screw pedestrians, bicycles screw cars, bicycles screw pedestrians, pedestrians screw cars, pedestrians screw bicycles, they all screw each others traffic flow!"

As a pedestrian I also walk through red lights, but I will never on purpose block the way of any vehicle that has the right of way at that moment. If I break the law, in general it will be a well considered decision. I often find some Chinese people behind me, who think they can also cross the street because I'm crossing it. Which often results in some cars horning, since at full speed I probably walk about 150% the speed of most Chinese people.

I have turned one of my pedestrian habbits I've developed in China in using it on the bike too. If some idiot is obviously going to cut off/cross your path, you just totally stop. Which forces that person to go around you, the way he should have done in the first place. Call me crazy but it also works on overtaking cars on smaller roads in the city, I just stop in the middle of the my lane and force them to stop, and wait for them to go back on their lane. The look on their face, priceless!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barry

I often find some Chinese people behind me, who think they can also cross the street because I'm crossing it.

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That is rationalization 1a. Which states: 'I can do that because other people are'.

Some might say that we are becoming mildly racist and generalizing too much. Whilst they have a point, ask any Hong Konger or OS Chinese and mostly they'll agree with our frustrations.

I love China, I really do.
The roads are a mess sometimes but as long as I keep my wits about me then I'll be alright. I can use the lawlessness to go as fast as I like and do almost anything that I want to on the road but only if it doesn't affect anyone else; morals.
I must have my venting sessions about some of the things they do but ultimately I have my flaws too. Who's perfect?

I've been 'waved down' by a number of police officers (the one's who stand there at little temporary checkpoints on the side or in the middle of the road, looking to catch drivers at some sort of fault, such as missing documents, and issue them with fines) on my way to and from my wife's hometown over the past few weeks. I know that they're gonna just take my bike key and mess with my day so I've swung past them and kept going each time. I was brought up to respect police, and I still do, so it makes me feel pretty uneasy to run past them but I simply can't trust them. My drivers license is a printed piece of paper that translates my UK license and I know they just won't recognize that. I'd better get a proper Chinese license ASAP, or just keep running past the cops.
It's a real thrill. My chest fills with adrenalin each time I see one jump out in-front of my bike and begin their rapid downward waving posture. I usually slow down, heading directly at them and at the last minute (after observing the escape routes and doing a few shoulder checks) I'll swerve right around him and whack the throttle on. I always check my mirrors and to my disappointment see them shamefully returning to their little roadside chair. People say that they never chase drivers who don't stop for them because it's too dangerous.
I was once, however, sat in the back of a taxi that skipped through a traffic light just after it turned red. The traffic policeman who was directing traffic from his stand in the middle of that junction ran to his car and chased us down in less than 30 seconds though. I wonder if they chase cars but just not bikes?

well, the only documents i take with my are print outs of my documents and laminated so they are water proof.

dont worry about not respecting police, the jin cha are the real police, the jiao jing or whoever they are are the traffic cops, basically police who didnt make the grade or did something wrong or didnt have the correct contacts to get into the real police.
unless they have a real police car there, i tend to dodge them as well. a good way to do it is when they hold up their hand, you just wave at them and drive on, then if you do get stopped down the road, you can say you thought they had been saying hello.

http://www.contactdi.com/2011/news001.jpg

Has anyone spent much time in Wuhan? Ive been about a bit and have never seen such a badly behaved collective of road users. Im not exaggerating; its off the scale! Having said that, i do find it quite easy to drive in: do pretty much what you want and expect everyone else to do the same. I think of it as an alternative highway code :)
I also fantasize about people getting mowed down, but we dont always want our fantasies to come true eh!

More seriously, I think until people know they are responsible for how they use the roads, this sort of thing will continue to happen.I agree with most comments from all of you living in China (Jape hasnt got a bloody clue), but i tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. Its quite an amazing transformation in terms of road use, bicycles to cars, the numbers involved, etc all in one generation and i imagine it will take a while to sort itself out.
Of course, another thing i frequently ask myself is, do I want China to become like the UK. I left the sunny climes of the mother country for a bit of under-developed adventure. I might, however, not think this if it cost me 40K.

What really scares me when there is snow and ice on the roads.People still driving as though it is perfect conditions and " I have a BMW/Audi there fore I am crash proof" mentality.

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Originally Posted by bigdamo

What really scares me when there is snow and ice on the roads.People still driving as though it is perfect conditions and " I have a BMW/Audi there fore I am crash proof" mentality.

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Or still don't turn on headlights in very heavy rain!