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  1. #1 Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
    Danger, Will Robinson! Lao Jia Hou's Avatar
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    New study on the benefits of permitting motorcycles to lane split (lane "share")

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/...-everyone.html

    Bikes have the same density impact in free-flowing traffic (i.e., take the same space as a car), but shine in heavy rush-hour traffic (24/7 in Beijing). This is obvious, as I can't imagine lane splitting in free-flowing traffic.
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  2. #2 Re: Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    The amount of time it will take for chinese drivers and authorities to come to this conclusion could be measured in light years, if light years were a measure of time.

    If only these assholes in their cars would realise that every time they see a bike, that's one less asshole in a car ruining their crawl to work. But they don't. Here's what happens to me all the time here and puts me in a blind rage:

    I'm ebiking my way through stagnant traffic, trying to get through gaps and whatnot. Cardriver is stuck behind someone and hasn't moved for a few minutes. He sees me go for the gap between him and the vehicle in front him. Immediately drives forward a few more inches so there's no space for me to get through. Now i'm stuck too and i have to wait there until he can get out. Meanwhile he sits there pretending he can't see me while he's picking his teeth or spitting on the floor of his car.

    Now i'm always an advocate for being calm and all that, but the amount of restraint it takes to do nothing while you're sitting there for two whole minutes beside this bone smoker who gained absolutely nothing from the whole affair, well it takes a lot of restraint.

    But if i smash his lights or whatever, you can be sure the next day the forums will be filled with "foreign savage on illegal harley murders helpless old man on his way to do charity work with blind orphans"


    And his is why we vent on the forum.
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  3. #3 Re: Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
    Senior C-Moto Guru ZMC888's Avatar
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    Felix, yeah, I know classic dickhead. We have a pedestrian crossing which is almost meaningless at the best of times, then a red light 100 meters further down. All the car and bus drivers can freaking obviously see they can't go anywhere being that there is a read light up ahead, but damn they try to block that crossing so bad, what if a cyclist/pedestrian/ebiker gets where they want to go with no cost to me? If you have the balls to point out their utter selfish BS then they get really angry and have a tantrum like a toddler. That's why they hate foreigners, because the Chinese who might have complained about that shit are a. Dead (in Cultural Revolution). b. In Ta**an c. In a metal asylum. I've been here for ten years, but I seriously doubt I'm meek and soulless enough for much longer.

    A word of warning: If you hit their car they'll try to sue you for 30,000 RMB for a 30 yuan scratch, just swear/spit and be on your way. I have been thinking about bring a syringe of old brake fluid with me, which makes the car look a bit wet, barely noticeable, then the next day or two the paint falls off or stains the plastics white like semen stains.
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  4. #4 Re: Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
    Senior C-Moto Guru bigdamo's Avatar
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    The traffic lights went out at a major intersection in my small town last Sunday.Unfortunately I was stuck in the madness.The complete lack of thinking other than ME ,ME,ME truly would test the patience of an angel.

    Cars,buses and taxis going everywhere and I mean everywhere up the footpath, trying to go down the road the wrong way and hey when they did that they were confronted by a car coming the right(legal) way.Would the idiot who went the wrong way back up no way just sit there and stare at the other legal driver.

    I had no choice but to go straight through the intersection I finally got to the lights and a bus cuts across in front of me but is blocked by an idiot who saw a small space in front of bus and tried drive through hey guess what dick head there was no clear space and he promptly stuffed everyone would he back up no way.I backed up as best I could to let the bus through but you guessed it that just gave everyone else an opportunity to ram there cars into what space they could find.

    I eventually got around the bus only to find some idiot just ram his car into the space the bus left behind but was promptly stopped by all the cars stopped in front of him.If he left a gap I and everyone behind me would of got through no just another selfish Chinese driver.

    I am sorry to say Euphonius I lost it an angel would of lost it.I started screaming at him and was full on the horn he did nothing when he saw me starting to get out of the car he started to move but was dumbfuc*** going forward then going back three of four times.I eventually got through.That was a painful hour.

    Man I am not long for this place.Seems to me the more cars the Chinese get the worse their driving becomes.
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  5. #5 Re: Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
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    @ bigdamo, I got a bit lost but I can see the image of chinese traffic chaos

    @felix & zcm888, a flat hand hit on the trunk of the car makes a nice sounding for the person inside the car (no damage done). Just sit on your bike afterwards as if nothing happened ;)

    I found a great way dealing with those idiot situations. Few weeks ago coming out of a small single lane street, 1 car already waiting at the traffic light to turn left. I go and stand left of the car leaving plenty of space for other cars to still enter the street. Just as the traffic coming from the right are about to get green light a woman in a car comes and even go stands left of me. First car coming from the right can't go further then between the woman's car and some parked car, all the other cars behind have to stop and block the junction.

    Our light turns green, I turned around first and sticked a thumb up (well done), then started clapping. Afterwards drove off between the cars leaving the cagers behind!
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  6. #6 Re: Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
    Senior C-Moto Guru bigdamo's Avatar
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    Yeah Barry it is hard to explain the total madness of the situation.Might attach a video camera on the dash to take some videos of the madness.No one back home is going to believe me when I tell them how they drive here.

    My other friends who come to China for business just say why the hell would you want to drive in China.When I tell them I'm thinking of getting a motorcycle they say have I gone completely mad.
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  7. #7 Re: Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
    Motorcycle Addict chinabiker's Avatar
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    Yeah, Beijing traffic jam in April 2002 - almost daily for a month or so. No way for lane splitting here

    2002_0403_444.jpg

    They started to put up fences in the middle of the roads all around town later that year.
    Andy
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  8. #8 Re: Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
    Senior C-Moto Guru bigdamo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chinabiker View Post
    Yeah, Beijing traffic jam in April 2002 - almost daily for a month or so. No way for lane splitting here

    2002_0403_444.jpg

    They started to put up fences in the middle of the roads all around town later that year.
    Yep looks similar to the one one I was in on Sunday except the traffic jam was spread out onto the foot paths and there would of been drivers driving down that street with not many cars on it the wrong way i.e going illegally against the oncoming traffic.

    Actually that looks like my present home town minus the pollution well if you add another 50 construction cranes into that picture.

    Betcha that Beijing photo don't look like that now.
    Last edited by bigdamo; 05-23-2012 at 12:35 PM.
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  9. #9 Re: Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigdamo View Post
    The traffic lights went out at a major intersection in my small town last Sunday.Unfortunately I was stuck in the madness.The complete lack of thinking other than ME ,ME,ME truly would test the patience of an angel.

    Cars,buses and taxis going everywhere and I mean everywhere up the footpath, trying to go down the road the wrong way and hey when they did that they were confronted by a car coming the right(legal) way.Would the idiot who went the wrong way back up no way just sit there and stare at the other legal driver.

    I had no choice but to go straight through the intersection I finally got to the lights and a bus cuts across in front of me but is blocked by an idiot who saw a small space in front of bus and tried drive through hey guess what dick head there was no clear space and he promptly stuffed everyone would he back up no way.I backed up as best I could to let the bus through but you guessed it that just gave everyone else an opportunity to ram there cars into what space they could find.

    I eventually got around the bus only to find some idiot just ram his car into the space the bus left behind but was promptly stopped by all the cars stopped in front of him.If he left a gap I and everyone behind me would of got through no just another selfish Chinese driver.

    I am sorry to say Euphonius I lost it an angel would of lost it.I started screaming at him and was full on the horn he did nothing when he saw me starting to get out of the car he started to move but was dumbfuc*** going forward then going back three of four times.I eventually got through.That was a painful hour.

    Man I am not long for this place.Seems to me the more cars the Chinese get the worse their driving becomes.

    I feel for you Bigdamo.

    I encountered something similar on a large city-bypass intersection just south of the city-center in Zhangdian. Huge road: 4 or 5 lanes going in each direction. It's always really busy but two months ago I noticed a huge build-up of cars ahead of me where the lights had gone out. I'd have described it almost exactly as you did.

    What got me the most is that the traffic going east-west had clear roads but were completely blocked by the sh*tload of traffic going north-south. I could clearly see that straight away but it seemed like nobody else wanted to pay attention. All that the E-W traffic needed was a space large enough to get through in order to proceed to the other side but the N-S traffic barely gave enough room for motorcycles to get through. Each time a small gap appeared "BROOOMMMMM" They revved their 1.4 litre engines up and raced into it before anybody else could and where did it get them? About 80cm a minute.
    Well, I was on my moto and it didn't take me long to aggressively work my way through the angry mob of metal clad Asians.

    It just isn't the way forward. I'm concious of the bad habits I subconsciously pick up from others (when in Rome... can be a bad thing). At least I remember what it's like to have driven in the west and had people intentionally let me through or out of a tight spot out because they've been taught kindness and compassion. I see little of that being taught to the young ones over here.
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  10. #10 Re: Preaching to the choir about lane splitting 
    C-Moto Guru fahni's Avatar
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    Well since we now entered the realm of general road behavior in China I have another 2 of my cents:

    I think one of the big problems is that the Chinese switched to cars basically only a decade ago. I remember quite vividly how I was sitting in the car of my parents as a child and how they told me about the right way to behave on the road. They told me about the zipper system (that is what we Germans call interweaving when two lanes in one direction merge into one), that one should give way at intersections even if it was "our" right of way just to enhance traffic flow and I noticed that being able to park a car in a tight spot in two turns is something to be proud of.

    The same is not true in China. People did not grow up seeing their parents drive a car and behave politely, I am not saying that this is the main reason but it is definitely a factor.
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