Defensive Riding in China (what to look for)
Compiled this err small list of possible road hazards in China, if you can think of any more please feel free to contribute your own suggestions! :deal:
1. red light running
2. no lights or full beam at dusk
3. man-hole covers missing or stolen
4. cyclists (weaving/2 up/shoulder glance during maneuver)
5. the divine right (vehicles turning right wrongly believe they have right of way)
6. car doors random opening
7. drunk driving
8. cell-phone use - shouting into - distraction
9. gravel/rocks/dust/coal/diesel/shit/urine/mashed crops etc on road surface
11. piles of sand/gravel/dirt/logs on road surface
12. drying crops, it's not a road it's the local farmer crop drying area
13. speeding cars
14. jay-running
15. reversing onto busy roads (esp trucks)
16. taxis, will kill for fare
17. low quality tires
18. slippery ornamental fake marble pedestrian surfaces
19. not looking
20. wet roads = brown water
21. overloaded trucks
22. not using mirrors
23. not using signals
24. street vendors selling crap 2 meters onto actual road
25. stopping for no reason
26. going very slowly for no reason
27. the blame game (phone a friend)
28. double lane-ing
29. pollution/atmospheric dust/visibility
30. poor signing, where's my gps?
31. the cop cash-cow
32. intersection flag people, white line fascism
33. chinese logic on fault
34. car window spitting
35. hit-and-run
36. to help or not?
37. animals
38. is it illegal to be a foreigner?
39. getting your own back safely (avoid personal reaction)
40. mad max vehicles
41. 3 and 4 wheeled blue trucks of death
42. mini people carriers (loaf of bread shaped van new driver, hasn't been trained adequately)
43. "everyone drives like that so it's OK"
44. corner straddling/left lane-ing
45. cycle lane, when to use it when not to (lights and left turns = danger)
46. inappropriate overtaking/overtaking on blind bends
47. parking on blind bends/parking on intersections/double parking
51. honking (pointless? or necessary?)
52. burning crops
53. bigger = better
54. black car superiority complex
55. oil slicks
56. hot looking dongbei hooker distraction
57. POS 20 year old car based on stolen blue-print for mid 80's Toyota belching blue smoke
58. POS driver believes is a car, others are not sure, is it a motorcycle with too many wheels or what?
59. belief that reverse parking is bad 'cos it doesn't look so pretty
60. service station dirty kettle for motorcyclists dangerous insistence/annoyance
61. disco bike dance music distraction
62. electric bikes..the silent killers
63. old vehicles with broken axles crabbing, which way is it actually going?
64. black cars going 200kmh on a road that peasant farmers cross on bicycles without looking
65. snow falls on road turns into ice, never cleared even in city
66. car window refuse throwing
67. chunks of rock/gravel/sand/boulders falling of overloaded tipper trucks
68. not understanding major road / minor road right of way system
69. never needing to say sorry
70. next 50kms on highway a hole/mud-bath being repaired or being re-laid, no diversion suggested
71. roadworks at night unlit
72. going through industrialized areas without breathing apparatus
73. lunar landscape roads
74. i can drive! i can reverse around some sticks more like!
Beijing amazingly disciplined ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MaRX8nka
Beijing was amazingly disciplined and nice traffic compared to few years ago, something good due to Olympics.
Chengdu on the other had feels like wild west - really scary first time driving.
It has been disciplined from July through September, but they have to make up for every non-committed violation now.:lol8::lol8::lol8::lol8::lol8:
Andy
Re: Beijing amazingly disciplined ?
"3 and 4 wheeled blue trucks of death."
Friends and I refer to them as "Blacka' Blacka'" trucks. They seem to run on used cooking oil because they are always collecting it in filthy barrels, or are they delivering it for use?
Then there are those little 150cc 3 wheeled cars, I think if the vans are "mianbao che" than maybe they could be "baozi che"?
Re: Beijing amazingly disciplined ?
Those blue three wheel trucks of death or 'blacka blacka' trucks run on liquidized coal or something, not sure. 'baozi che"? Pedalo cars isn't that what they're called, POS as I lovingly refer to them, or how to ruin a bad scooter. :lol8:
Re: Beijing amazingly disciplined ?
There is another really dangerous threat found in the Beijing mountains last years autumn several times.
The villagers running around with 5 to 8m long bamboo sticks to hit whatever down from the trees.
They carry it over their shoulders or at the rear of the 2/3 wheelers. You can nearly not see these sticks and when they turn somewhere into a side road the stick swing across the street and block it. I got nearly stabbed once. So watch out!
Re: Beijing amazingly disciplined ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Maux
Then there are those little 150cc 3 wheeled cars, I think if the vans are "mianbao che" than maybe they could be "baozi che"?
They have versions of them around the suburbs of Suzhou, and in the smaller villages along the 318. I believe they were called xiao fei long, or dragonflies (sorry for spelling). A friend of mine once got hit by one while driving a scooter, then ended up getting surrounded by villagers until he could beat a hasty retreat. I detest the things.
The 3 wheeled trucks ("Blacka blacka" another friend called them helicopters) carry coal in the northern provinces. I think they have only one cylinder and the transmission is belt driven. Unsafe at any speed comes to mind. Saw many accidents involving those. Worst part was how the coal came right over top of and into the cab...
2 Attachment(s)
Re: Beijing amazingly disciplined ?
62. electric bikes..the silent killers
I usually have to worry about these killers more so when I'm stepping off a curb then on my motorcycle, but nonetheless they are a nuisance in both cases.
But this problem can EASILY be solved. For years I've been petitioning the Traffic Management Bureau of Shanghai and the Public Security Bureau to make it LAW that every E-Bike have a PIGEON WHISTLE installed.
You don't know what a pigeon whistle is?
A pigeon whistle looks like this (see below), and is attached to the foot of a pigeon. As the flock of pigeons fly thru the sky the whistle catches the wind and produces a beautiful sound - whistle sounds are available in different sounds and keys to suit your preferred tone.
Attachment 6514
Attachment 6515
http://www.eaglehunter.co.uk/Equipme...Ch_Pigeon.html
Now attach one of these to an E-Bike and problem solved! And think how beautiful the streets of Shanghai (or wherever you live) would be with the flocks of E-bikes producing music to your ears!
Re: Beijing amazingly disciplined ?
Pete's addition:
75. When wishing to cross a multi-laned road that has a central divider, however, there are no openings in a conveniently close proximity, just ride the wrong way down the road, against traffic and as close to the central divider as possible until you reach your destination. Typically, the traffic coming head-on with attempt to avoid you but Soberpete may try to kick you as he rides past on his motorcycle because your display can be seen as very dangerous and inconsiderate by foreigners.
Re: Beijing amazingly disciplined ?
Ha ha don't get your boot caught in his clutch cable
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Re: Beijing amazingly disciplined ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
zhu
Ha ha don't get your boot caught in his clutch cable
:lol8:
40: mad max vehicles
Attachment 6951Attachment 6952
Found those photos while googling for "Chinese roads". Never seen something quite like that in my time here.
I could really do with a helmet cam. I've seen something that fits into every point on ZMC888's list and I'd love to be able to illustrate most of them, although, number 38 would be tricky to capture on camera.
