Comments on: That Didn’t Take Long: Already On Tape, Road Accident Caused By China’s New Yellow Light Rule

By: James

James — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:05:45 +0000

And I’d much prefer to have mandatory Chinese fluency to get behind the wheel.

By: narsfweasels

narsfweasels — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 06:03:08 +0000

Shanghai was reporting a decrease in traffic accidents as of the last few days. I actually don’t see the problem with this law, as Kat said, people fail to leave enough space between cars and that causes more problems than lights changing.

Seriously: I drive every day here and I have certainly noticed a much more cautious attitude to driving from other road users. There’s less of a race when the ligh turns yellow. Genuinely feeling this is a good thing.

Now, can we do something about the bicycles, mopeds, tricycles and motorbikes?

By: KopyKatKiller

KopyKatKiller — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 04:17:35 +0000

Here’s a law to review: “Only foreign issued driver’s licences are legal.” That would solve 99% of the problems.

By: terroir

terroir — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 03:31:47 +0000

The law has just been put on hold due to “overwhelming citizen response”, and is up for “review”.

It isn’t democracy, but it works.

By: KopyKatKiller

KopyKatKiller — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 03:18:51 +0000

Maybe it’s a Trabby?

By: Wheel Nut

Wheel Nut — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 01:41:44 +0000

Disclosure: You are a cashed up expat. If you want to say you have the money to drive a Benz, BMW, Audi, or Porsche then do so. No need to beat around the bush by saying “It’s German, just not a VW”. There is no shame in having done well enough to afford a nice car.

By: KopyKatKiller

KopyKatKiller — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:06:00 +0000

“There’s a significant amount of delay between hitting the brakes and the following driver reacting.”

Ummmmm, that’s why you are not supposed to tailgate. You are supposed to leave enough room between your car and the one in front to avoid colliding, At 30mph there should be at least 3 or 4 car lengths between you and the car in front. Also, you should also be watching the lights. And as a rule, cars should also be slowing down when they approach any intersection and be prepared to stop.

I highly doubt any of these safety precautions were being taken by the people doing the rear-ending as they are Chinese drivers who accelerate at intersections and tailgate like motherfuckers. Serves them right if they crash.

PS. For Chinese readers out there, here’s some helpful information I’m sure you’ve never seen before…

http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/tpw_dh_chap4.pdf

By: KopyKatRetard

KopyKatRetard — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 16:33:31 +0000

It has nothing to do with tailgating this law is retarded and you’re retarded probably because you’ve been in China too long. There’s a significant amount of delay between hitting the brakes and the following driver reacting. Did you even read what the driver said? What would you do if you’re meters away from the intersection at 30 mph and it turns yellow?

By: snoopfrog

snoopfrog — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:37:41 +0000

A couple comments…
Now i have lived in shanghai for a while having moved from beijing, but one thing i am still pretty sure of: the worst drivers in china are bus, taxi and wujing drivers. Not anyone driving a specific brand and for full disclosure i drive a german car and its not a vw.

Secondly, most traffic lights have a countdown

Third however given a lot of people never cared abt that and sped through yellow lights then they already shoukd have the practice of stopping when yellow changed to red.

Lastly, certainly the city where this should lead to the least issue is beijing… hard to crash when traffic is still. So taxi drivers are worried about fines and nothing else. The sad thing is this regulation does nothing to stop traffic. Now if people got fined for being stuck in the middle of an intersection then this would have been more positive.

By: fdawei David

fdawei David — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:34:44 +0000

The newly enacted law is asinine. If one checks the laws physics, once a vehicle is in motion it is nearly impossible to “stop on a dime,” as this law mandates.
I was in a number of taxis today, all drivers told me to buckle up, as part of the new law, but they groused about the new yellow light law that compels them to suddenly stop as the light turns yellow.
In fact, while we were discussing this dangerous practice, Audis Benzs and Lexus continued to do what they always do, run the yellow lights, pretending the law doesn’t apply to them, despite the presence of police officers at the intersections who ignored their complete disregard of the law.
Lets prepare ourselves for accidents that are waiting to happen and let’s wait for the insurance companies to rant and rave about the sheer volume of accidents to pedestrians and vehicles alike.

By: KopyKatKiller

KopyKatKiller — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:33:49 +0000

I would blame this on the drivers, not on the light. Tailgating is illegal, right? If they were obeying the rules, there would have been room to stop. This is just another example of the problem Chinese have with the relatively simple task of driving.