Next time you complain about the drivers in your area...

It could be worse!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=QESfEd180rQ

I spent a week in 4 different Chinese cities 2 years ago. I pride myself on remaining calm with all kinds of drivers, but it was impossible there. I took to sitting in the middle of the 3rd row of the minvans we had to protect myself. Normal traffic rules just don't apply. I saw cars pull u-turns on freeways to backtrack to get the exit they had missed. Our driver in Shanghai would routinely pull to the right side turn lane and then turn left in front of 3 lanes, rather than wait for 2 or 3 lights in the laft turn lane. It was just insane.

And auto sales are soaring there as they keep getting our money, so a lot of people with zero driving skills and knowledge will soon be adding to the carnage. Scary. Wonder what gas costs there?

Wiki says 1.50/ gallon.

Not a single skid mark!

When my Mrs. Pork and I lived in Miami we saw a lot of bonehead driving. We coined the saying "They are driving very well when you consider they were driving an Ox cart just last week"

I spent most of a year on assignment in Taiwan, driving to and from work on a Vespa. I could tell stories... The first couple days were pretty exciting, but I was a little surprised at how quickly I adjusted to the (lack of) rules of the road over there.

I remember the very first time I was there - I had just arrived, and was riding in a cab from the airport to downtown Taipei. There was a police chase on the freeway, and my cabbie passed both the police car and the guy they were chasing. No one even blinked.

I still think my favourite of that compilation is the guy taking a leak in the middle of the road who gets hit from behind slowly

Im sorry, at 2:05, i laughed...

If I was on two wheels in China, I'd be flailing a chain at anything that moved, Road Rash style.

I was in China back in 2000. It was pretty nuts back then, but I'm sure its gotten a ton worse. The two things that I noticed that stuck with me:

1. Drivers would tap their horn lightly right before making a lane change, then just make it, whether there was room or not, and force the next driver to slow down or make his own lane change.

2. Pretty much every cab, and a lot of private cars, had scratches and dings on all four corners of the car.

eastsidemav wrote: 1. Drivers would tap their horn lightly right before making a lane change, then just make it, whether there was room or not, and force the next driver to slow down or make his own lane change.

The way it was in Taiwan was if you looked before you changed lanes or pulled out into traffic, you were sunk...the traffic would never let you in. On the other hand if you never looked and just pulled out, somehow the traffic would make room and you'd be okay. It was a weird method, but it worked because everyone played by the same rules.

There were no stop signs or traffic signals at any of those intersections; completely uncontrolled. Is the term "yield the right of way" a totally foriegn concept over there?

Wow, those guys are WAY worse than anything I've seen in the Caribbean, even Haiti. It's not like India's organized chaos style of driving, it's just plain chaos.

If I was living there I'd have one helluva armored-up ZAV. I'd just drive carefully and anyone who wishes to crash into me could do so.

Oh yeah, just remembered another thing. When I got to Dalian, it was pretty late at night. The cabbie drove about 50 on the expressway, and 50 on the surface streets. Saw the aftermath where another cab had t-boned a police car. I bet he got in a bit of trouble...