{"id":236,"date":"2012-08-08T13:56:54","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T13:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/?p=236"},"modified":"2012-08-08T14:16:45","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T14:16:45","slug":"driving-in-china-vs-driving-in-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/?p=236","title":{"rendered":"Driving in China vs. Driving in USA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"In the Midst of Traffic by Mark Griffith (9 days), on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/niffgurd\/2185253840\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2124\/2185253840_cc693b3864_z.jpg\" alt=\"In the Midst of Traffic\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As we get ready to repatriate to the US I&#8217;ve been keeping track of the things that are different between driving in the US and China. These are also a list of things I have learned about how to drive in China. \u00c2\u00a0This is my perception based on driving in China for the past 14 months and might be interesting for native Chinese drivers who&#8217;ll be driving in the US or those starting to drive in China.<\/p>\n<p>China has a relatively new driving culture (as Hessler points out in his excellent book <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.com\/006180410X\/\" target=\"_blank\">Country Driving<\/a>) and things are fairly chaotic as viewed from a someone used to driving in the US, though I&#8217;ve had folks tell me its nothing like driving in India. I&#8217;ve really loved driving in China (more in a later post about what I will miss and love about China), but China has very strong defensive and offensive driving culture and those two factors feed on each other. The strong offense requires a strong defense, this driving behavior is rooted in a more general cultural phenomenon of aggressiveness I call the <strong>&#8220;get ahead&#8221;<\/strong> behavior.<\/p>\n<p>For example right after the plane touches down on the runway, before the plane stops taxing, long before you arrive at the gate and the seat belt sign turns off, most Chinese jump out of their seats, grab their stuff from the overhead bin and line up to exit the plane. Or when lining up for the bus or the subway or the bank or at the grocery store, people will crowd, push, cut in line and attempt to get there first. This behavior seems exaggerated in the large cities where the population density is much greater and seems to generate from a feeling of there are so many people and such few resources that if you don&#8217;t push to get ahead you may not get anything. This is viewed as rude when viewed through the eyes of a Westerner but doesn&#8217;t seem to be much of a big deal to most Chinese, though there is chatter at times about being more &#8220;civilized&#8221;. Anyway this carries over to driving behavior in Beijing as well.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the areas where things are different :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Honking<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In China<\/span> your horn is your weapon, your warning signal to the other cars and pedestrians. Don&#8217;t try that, don&#8217;t do that, look out, I am coming or I am here. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In America<\/span> : no horn unless a true I am gonna crash emergency or you just want to be rude or you need to react to a really rude driver.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Policeman<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In China<\/span> police don&#8217;t matter at all. \u00c2\u00a0When you see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/picturenarrative\/3832220815\/\" target=\"_blank\">police cars<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0often with their lights flashing you feel nothing, no fear, no concern and no regard. \u00c2\u00a0You can pass them, you can speed past them, you can cut them off and they pay you no mind as you pay them none. \u00c2\u00a0 You never see any policeman on patrol, they never pull cars over and give tickets. \u00c2\u00a098% of the tickets are given by cameras, which they usually warn you are coming up ahead with a sign. \u00c2\u00a0The one place that you do really have to pay attention to policeman is along ChangAn Jie near Tiananmen Square and the Peoples Congress, they are little more &#8220;I mean business&#8221; in these areas, you really can&#8217;t turn left on ChangAn Jie or not pay attention to instructions when given. \u00c2\u00a0Of course you always want to <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.niffgurd.com\/2010\/12\/one-hell-of-long-day-first-off-before.html\" target=\"_blank\">obey the military police<\/a>, but that is also another <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.niffgurd.com\/2010\/12\/one-hell-of-long-day-first-off-before.html\" target=\"_blank\">long story<\/a>.<br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In America<\/span> when you see a police car you immediately fell fear, not because they will hurt you, but that they&#8217;ll pull you over for some traffic violation. \u00c2\u00a0After all I&#8217;ve been in handcuffs at the side of the road, but that&#8217;s another story entirely. \u00c2\u00a0I will have to readjust my &#8220;oh crap there is a policeman reaction&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pedestrians<\/strong> :<br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In China<\/span> they have <strong>NO<\/strong> right of way. \u00c2\u00a0I have tried to stop for people at crosswalks and they just stare at you vacantly and wait for you to proceed, confused at why your stopping. \u00c2\u00a0 At the same time a pedestrian&#8217;s follow the &#8220;get ahead&#8221; behavior and will cross <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">whenever<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0they can get an advantage be the light green or even red. They have the following crossing strategies :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">the &#8220;no-look-you-can&#8217;t-see-me-you-can&#8217;t-hit-me&#8221; strategy<\/span> : if you don&#8217;t make eye contact and they can&#8217;t see you seeing them you have to swerve around them. \u00c2\u00a0They will walk in the street or across the road and you have no choice but to <strong>honk<\/strong> loudly to spur them to action or usually slow down or stop to let them cross. \u00c2\u00a0Making it as far as you can is the key to getting across the street and they will start across the street any time, the light could be green but on the last second before turning red and they will start across. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Often there will be a pedestrian in the middle of the road on the painted line with two lanes of traffic swirling around him.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">power in numbers<\/span> : a group will gather strength in numbers and inch out into road, slowly cutting off cars as the flow stops and goes due traffic jams. Eventually they will be enough to block the car and step across, again forward progress at all cost.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In America<\/span> the pedestrian has a right of way but at least you don&#8217;t generally have to worry about them jay walking in front of you at any random moment without regard to the color of the light.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lanes<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In China<\/span> : they are suggestions and don&#8217;t really matter, you can fill them in with as many cars as can physically fit into the space. \u00c2\u00a0Interestingly bike lanes are observed and honored, though most often this is because there is a physical\u00c2\u00a0barrier\u00c2\u00a0separating\u00c2\u00a0the car lanes from the bike lanes either a concrete curb or a metal fence fastened to the road. \u00c2\u00a0And because most everyone driving today once rode a bike everyone is very bike aware and there is none of the American attitude of : &#8220;hey bike, get out of my way and off my road&#8221;!<br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In America<\/span> : I will have to stay in the lanes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Highway Driving<br \/>\n<\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In China<\/span> its perfectly acceptable to drive on the shoulder of the highway, well maybe not acceptable according to the written law, but since there are no highway patrol people do it all the time. If all the lanes are blocked and you really want to get ahead pull into the shoulder and speed on down the road. \u00c2\u00a0Or if the traffic backed up and your exit is coming up, drive on the shoulder to get access to your exit. \u00c2\u00a0Also its fairly common to drive the wrong way down a road, especially if the road has two lanes and its not super busy. \u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;ve done it myself a few time in a pinch instead of turning around. \u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;ve even seen huge trucks with lights flashing speeding the wrong way down the shoulder on the highway on the <a href=\"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/?p=225\" target=\"_blank\">way to Datong<\/a>.<br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In America<\/span> : none of this acceptable, except maybe super super late at night after a concert when everyone is trying to exist side roads and get to the freeway.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Turning<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In China<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0when you turn right there is no need to stop or even really look, you just drive moderately slow and merge into traffic, people are expected to stop for you. You also don&#8217;t have to stop on a red light to turn right, just cruise on through if you can. \u00c2\u00a0This is as true on a bike as it is in car.Also when turning left you adopt the &#8220;get ahead&#8221; strategy of \u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.urbandictionary.com\/define.php?term=boston%20left-hand-turn\" target=\"_blank\">Boston Turn<\/a><strong> :\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0you either very quickly turn left before on-coming traffic can start going straight, or you slowly crawl your car forward until you block traffic and can proceed to turn. \u00c2\u00a0Often when one car start this someone pull forward on their right and stack in front of them and then cars will turn further left behind them as the car pulls left, effectively &#8220;hiding&#8221; behind the car turning left in front of them. \u00c2\u00a0Additionally if there is a left turn on a road with two lanes moving in the same direction drivers turning left will pull into the on coming lane, effectively blocking one lane of oncoming traffic. \u00c2\u00a0When on coming traffic makes a right turn the\u00c2\u00a0opposite left turning\u00c2\u00a0car will us the right hand turn car as a shield to turn left. \u00c2\u00a0Usually people will follow on behind and inside stopping all oncoming traffic and allowing multiple cars to sneak in a left hand turn. \u00c2\u00a0This behavior is especially bad at rush our time with traffic can snarl with seemingly untangleable jams as no one is willing to give an inch and no one can even unblock the snarl because everyone crowds in behind.Another acceptable strategy is the drive-around-u-turn. \u00c2\u00a0Lets say you want to make a u-turn but there are multiple cars ahead of you and the light is red. \u00c2\u00a0If there is room you can just pull to the right of the cars\u00c2\u00a0(often\u00c2\u00a0temporarily\u00c2\u00a0blocking the bike lane) \u00c2\u00a0and swing out around them and make the u-turn.<br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><br \/>\nIn America<\/span> : I have made a Boston Turn when I was in an extreme hurry and I thought I could get away with it but I knew if I got caught it would be a ticket for sure, in China there is no fear of tickets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ambulances<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In China<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0no on pays them mind. You don&#8217;t have to get out of their way. \u00c2\u00a0Heaven forbid if someone is truly dying and needs to get to a hospital. \u00c2\u00a0And they really don&#8217;t even try that hard to drive fast, they just roll along in traffic at normal speeds with their sirens blaring and lights blinking. \u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;ve never seen firetruck driving on the road. In fact for a large city you rarely hear that many sirens. I hear more sirens in background noise on conference calls with Seattle than I do living in Beijing on the busy 4th Ring Road with my windows open at night. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In America<\/span> : when you hear a siren you have to immediately pull over the right and give them the right of way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;ll add more as I think of any new ones but in general I have enjoyed the freedom of driving in China. \u00c2\u00a0Especially on the freeways where there are so few cars that once your out of the city the roads are fairly empty. \u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;ll miss driving in Beijing and it&#8217;ll be an adjustment driving in the US, not quite as fun. \u00c2\u00a0But I&#8217;ve got my <a href=\"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/?p=110\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Chinese Driver&#8217;s license<\/span><\/a> and I&#8217;ll be back. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we get ready to repatriate to the US I&#8217;ve been keeping track of the things that are different between driving in the US and China. These are also a list of things I have learned about how to drive in China. \u00c2\u00a0This is my perception based on driving in China for the past 14 &hellip; <a class=\"read-excerpt\" href=\"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/?p=236\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,28,32,11],"tags":[10,36,118,99],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-mark","category-driving","category-driving-in-china","category-living-in-beijing","tag-beijing","tag-china","tag-driving","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinagriffith.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}