I got all the paperwork ready to get back 10k from insurance. Police report is irrelevant.
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I got all the paperwork ready to get back 10k from insurance. Police report is irrelevant.
Thanks. I'm pretty critical of my own photos, so its good to hear someone else likes them! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
No sighs allowed! Look in the bright side: at least you get to get out into the country and see it... me, I'm stuck with city-scapes (and lately, just, couch-scapes)Quote:
Sigh.
Dear Josh,Quote:
Originally Posted by CantDecide
Surely there's no license required to ride pillion or in the sidecar. Get yourself out to Jimbo's; I'm sure you'll find plenty of empty buckets available for weekend excursions out into the Beijing hinterlands...
(Edit: Oh, yes, that was you inquiring about public transit routes to Jimbo's. Any luck?)
cheers!
Yeah, I started working on "wo de taitai" for that, but every time I bring up a trip to Shunyi, she's like "why would you want to go _there_?!".Quote:
Originally Posted by euphonius
I think the subway goes out to Shunyi now, but I don't know if it is within striking distance of the Iron Horse, I haven't looked yet. I guess now is as good a time as any!
edit: It looks like the new line 15 gets pretty close, the China International Exhibition Center stop is pretty close. Depending on where the exit is the Iron Horse its probably a 15-25 minute walk from there. I'll see if I can arrange a trip soon!
I haven't done it, but this is what I've heard ...
1) Explained by Jim ... take Line 15 to the Exhibition Centre, then hop a taxi straight out Tian Bei Lu. His shop is just past the Airport Expressway North overpass (you will go underneath it), on your left. It is about 6 or 7 kms out from the Exhibition Centre.
2) Explained by Jim's wife (runs the Iron Horse) ... take Line 15 to the stop just immediately after the Exhibition Centre, then there is a bus that goes to Jim's shop/Iron Horse. She told me the number, but I forgot, sorry.
Unfortunately, that's the best I can do. Probably better to call Jim ... 13901320922 ... and ask him.
Or, you can hop on the back of my bike and I'll run you out. Or, after I pick up my modified JH600B (sidecar) on Sunday, you can ride in the sidecar!
Cheers
Richard
Yikes! I had an uncannily (if that's even a word) similar motorcycle/pedestrian accident last May. A couple walked right in front of me (on a bike) just as I passed through an intersection (my light was green). They were both wearing head phones plugged into an I-Pod type device. What was worse, however, is I was riding a bike that did not belong to me (my bike had starter problems that evening) and wasn't registered, plated, or insured. The cops in my case saved my -ss. Thankfully, she was not seriously hurt, and I ended up with a broke shoulder (also not serious). The girl's father first demanded I pay her a monthly fee for the rest of her life. Then he reduced it down to 80K. Then 30K, then 8K
But the cop was having none of that. The accident report showed fault as 50/50 and the cop suggested to the girl's father that she pay half my medical expenses (over 200K).
I got the bike back, my driver's license back, and at 10 months later, not heard another word from the girl or her father. Whew! So it doesn't always go against the laowai.
Regds,
Jim
www.bmwsidecar.com
Awesome! I'd love a sidecar ride if your up for it!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbosidecar
that is quality, thank god for the nice cops who see some sense. I have on numerous times pulled my wife by the arm out of the road (as she was either looking the wrong way, or looking at the path she wanted to take) half a second later a bike, or bus or taxi flys past.. the chinese seem to have no road safety sense.
the last time was just 2 days ago, she looked, then walked and looking the other way got dragged back by me (as she was holding my daughter so i wasnt best pleased) when i ask her why she didnt look both ways her reply was " i cant look in both directions"
i preceded to show her that her head can swivel and you can look in both directions.
how she has managed to make it to the age of 22 i dont know.
the city i live in at the moment is a small crappy city and load of students and other people have ebikes. there are bike lanes but these are normaly blocked by people walking up them, or cars parked in them or street venders unloading their crap, so all bikes use the roads, some of these riders (Well most) should never be given the keys to an ebike, they ignore their mirrors (which most the time are pointing up at their faces so they can look at them selves)
dont indicate, happily go the wrong way down roads, do a sudden stop in the middle of the road to turn left,
chat on their phones while driving at 10 kph in the fast lane,
violently swing to the right then just as violently go to the left making people in both lanes shit them selves,
seem to be practicing the slalom with invisible cones,
and generally drive like irresponsible, selfish morons who think they are the emperor or empresses of china.
i think you should have to take a basic common sense test before you are aloud to drive a ebike.
as you can tell, i have had a bad day today..
I feel the same way as Lightend does about the things he has stated above.
Some may say that this kind of perception is narrow-minded or arrogant, and I understand that. It some ways it is.
It's all too easy for someone in Lightend's, or my shoes to criticize (what I would call) the foolish things that some of these people do on the road but still, it's not my country. I will, however, state that it would do the Chinese people a hell of a lot of good to learn some things about the road that will save their own life and the lives of many others around them... the latter including us Laowai (plural equivalent).
I'm starting to understand how things work a bit with accidents (I think) from reading on the forum and talking to Chinese friends.
First a side-story you may or may not have heard of. All you teachers (and others) out there will know what I'm talking about when I say Chinese are by nature snitches, no offense intended but in my experience it's true. It has been reasoned that this began back under the rule of the qing emperors during which communities were collectively punished for the wrongdoings of one (wo)man. So they evolved to create a society wherin people are afraid to do anything because their neighbours will give them up in a heartbeat to save themselves the punishment. In Ireland on the other hand we have lived with English rule and the consequent subversion (or counter-revolution, "terrosism," whatever floats your boat) for around 800 years, this had the opposite effect on us. Back in primary school if you snitched (ratted) you got punished, we quickly learned that it was up to the person themselves to come forward and do the honorable thing and, in school at least, they usually did. If they chose not to for personal reasons (very close to being expelled, harsh parents etc.) they could count on their classmates to stand by them. I guess the Qing Emperor's were more efficient than the English at rooting out wrongdoers.
The reason I first shared this is that I think that the Chinese customs for compensation could have similar roots. Here's my perception: The person who was hurt more by the accident (physically or monetarily) is the victim, right and wrong doesn't really matter. The only protection I can think of then is to do the Chinese thing in the case of an accident. If a car cuts me up again and I come off on the road you better damn well bet that I'm going to be the one rolling around on the floor crying for an ambulance and x-rays and compensation. Will see who's trying to run away from the scene then. There was a scuffle in my neighbourhoods school the other day and the mother of one of the children took him to the hospital for x-rays, we laughed at first and mocked her molly-coddling but in all likely-hood she was building her own case for her sons victimhood in case the other boys mother would start getting all Chinese on her ass.
Might be bullshit but it's only ten fen.
p.s. Slabo you have the worst luck ever, man I don't know how you get by. You must have a damn healthy outlook on life to keep doing anything on that bike of yours.
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!!!
That is rationalization 1a. Which states: 'I can do that because other people are'.Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry
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.
Or still don't turn on headlights in very heavy rain!Quote:
Originally Posted by bigdamo
In rain, in fog or in twilight hours but they drive around all night with their high beams and fog lights on blinding everyone.Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry
Since they found out there another 2 light in front of their car, they utilize that at clear weather night too -- yeah, I'm have 2 more lights than yours.Quote:
Originally Posted by soberpete
I started to notice that 2 or 3 years ago in my home town, they used to not know how to turn those on.
Screw those idiot drivers.
Bumping the thread is not to bring the bad memory to OP, but I didn't see cc's good argument.
Ask all SME owners, they would say they expected most of male employee are nature traitors.Quote:
Originally Posted by corporal_clegg
:thumbsup:Quote:
Back in primary school if you snitched you got punished, we quickly learned that it was up to the person themselves to come forward and do the honorable thing and, in school at least, they usually did. If they chose not to for personal reasons, they could count on their classmates to stand by them.
Yeah, thank you, emperor. Your people are not killing each other for living.Quote:
"I guess the Qing Emperor's were more efficient than the English at rooting out wrongdoers."
This how it get startedQuote:
The person who was hurt more by the accident (physically or monetarily) is the victim, right and wrong doesn't really matter.
Quote:
The only protection I can think of then is to do the Chinese thing in the case of an accident. If a car cuts me up again and I come off on the road you better damn well bet that I'm going to be the one rolling around on the floor crying for an ambulance and x-rays and compensation. Will see who's trying to run away from the scene then.
Pretty or ugly? you decide.Quote:
There was a scuffle in my neighbourhoods school the other day and the mother of one of the children took him to the hospital for x-rays, we laughed at first and mocked her molly-coddling but in all likely-hood she was building her own case for her sons victimhood in case the other boys mother would start getting all Chinese on her ass.
There has number of similar cases, the recent one was made popular was a old brat crossing fence felt over, a car driver pull over and helped her a bit, the driver was accused hitting her. The court concluded the driver was 50% responsible. The driver paid a few ten thousands. How the court conclude that was 照顾弱势群体.