Picture taken at the main Sanlitun intersection on Gongti during eveningtime. A sedan nicked a U-turning taxi cab, after which the drivers of both cars — while waiting for police — chose to not move their vehicles. Try to imagine with me the anger of everyone behind them. Traffic may have been backed up to Third Ring Road.
Now try to imagine my glee as I pedaled past on my bike, stopped, took out my camera phone, aimed, and snapped this picture. And why would I be so gleeful? Just because.
Beijing Traffic is an ongoing series dedicated to the Chinese capital’s perpetual and eternal gridlock. Got pics of horrible, frightening, maddening traffic? Send em here. Remember, there are no road rules in China, only magic.
Previously: A Bus Fucks Up Everything
It’s not always their fault for not moving. In cases where there is an argument of who is at fault they are usually told by the cops to not move anything. There is a serious lack of understanding of fault in this country, which results in this bullshit. Also, due to the lack of deductibles, everyone wants to 走保险 if at all possible. Taxis are not owned by drivers, they are rented, they are responsible for damage. A small nick *might* possibly be something worse, so they want to ensure that insurance will cover it all. And that tends to require a judgement of fault, as well as a police report.
Furthermore, if you think Beijing is gridlocked, you’re basically just a fatheaded idiot. Been driving here for a decade, used to be better, sure, but I never have a problem with traffic.
Are you serious? Even the taxi drivers here complain about how hard it is to get around. You ever been down by CBD around rush hour? Or on Third Ring by rush hour? Or ANYWHERE around rush hour? There’s a huge problem with gridlock, just like every major city ANYWHERE has a huge problem with gridlock. And it doesnt matter if you’re driving, or taking a cab, or taking the bus.
If you have truly not had a problem with traffic, then I envy your patience or your ignorance, because I for one — like most of us in Beijing — have. And it’s fucking terrible.
And most taxi drivers are fucking horrible at driving. It’s in their interest to find and seek out shitty traffic most of the time, as it results in wait-time fares and makes the passenger more willing to agree to lengthy detours. Here’s my morning drive today:
5th ring? All red. 4th ring? All red. 3rd ring? All red. Hmm, let’s go 4th, hit the side roads till a bottleneck, jump back onto the main road, take an early exit to bypass zhongguancun, and then back to the main road. Distance: 20km. Time:22 minutes including hitting every red light along the way. If you’re dumb enough to drive around in the CBD during rush hour, you deserve your fate, and even then, there are ways around the jams. The worst traffic I’ve run into in the past year was in the CBD, but even then it was just a half-hour extra. With rare exception, I can beat any taxi driver, any subway and any bus to my destination. I have never had an accident and never once been ticketed or penalized. My driving style is also not erratic changing lanes every second… in fact, I end up leaving those idiots in the dust pretty much every time. It’s called planning ahead and understanding traffic.
Living in Beijing for 10 years?! Get thee to the hospital. Seriously.
no problem with the gridlock… wow, fatheaded idiot calling other people fatheaded idiots. impressive considering Beijing frequently lands towards the top of the list of most congested cities in the world
http://www.driverabroad.com/driving-facts/most-traffic-congested-cities/
Sure, if you’re a dumbass. I never have problems getting around. Worst case it takes an hour, I can get to just about anywhere in the city in around 30~40 minutes. Your fatheaded lists are not based on actual facts or actual drivers, they are based primarily on fatheads making fatheaded observations on issues they have literally zero understanding of. Whatever, virtually no expats drive anyways, they just whine too much and I look forward to the day I run them down.
MrY, you’re opinion is biased and not based on facts or actual experience. I drive in Beijing, and the traffic is bad. The bad traffic is usually due to bad local drivers doing very stupid things, and their general bad driving skills. I’ve driven all across Europe, the USA, and China. I used to live in and drive in Los Angeles and Paris; both known for bad traffic. Unfortunately, I’ve had the worst experiences with traffic Beijing.
Good for you I guess? Driving in LA is absolute hell on earth. Beijing and China in general? Not so much. Sure, there are dumbasses on the road, but if you have any driving skill to speak of, it’s not an issue at all and fairly easy to compensate for.
Why is it that whenever anyone comments on this site — on ANYTHING — its always to insult the post, or the website, or another commenter, etc? Why the hell does everyone have to start shit on here. Jesus, you fucking people, don’t you have anything better to do besides getting your god damn panties in a twist?
–Longtime reader but first time commenter
I know, eh?
Truly sad.
Sigh.
Because when cowards sit safely at their keyboards, secure in the distance and anonimity of the internet, they transform into mighty warriors.