A motorcyclist in Linhai, Zhejiang province is lucky to be standing today after barely avoiding an overturning container truck last Tuesday. Check out this recently uploaded video in which the cyclist, waiting on Highway 104, finds the sudden need to sidestep a 19-ton vehicle skidding straight at him. The truck driver, fortunately as well, was not seriously injured.
We’ve seen some awful instances of what happens when a driver doesn’t want to pay a road toll. This is not one of those instances. This is awesome. Early morning Tuesday (if the timestamp is to be believed), a car sans driver — like a modern headless horseman — pulls up to the toll gate... Read more »
A 20-car rear-end chain collision yesterday morning on the Hang-Pu Highway between Hangzhou and Haining, Zhejiang province resulted in two dead and at least eight injured. The Jiaxing (prefecture-level city in Zhejiang) Fire Brigade said there was a "thick fog" at the time of the accident, and visibility was further hindered by smoke from burning stalks.
Holy-shit video time. Last Thursday in Zhengzhou, Henan province, surveillance cameras caught a driver running over a couple on the street — and then continue to run over them, and run over them, and run over them. (Viewer discretion is advised.) The good news first: the pedestrians who were run over will survive, though they... Read more »
In response to public outcry over a January 1 regulation stipulating that drivers must stop on yellow lights, traffic management authorities have promised to upgrade road signals, according to China Daily: “The pace of signal upgrading will quicken, the traffic management bureau under the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement on Thursday.” But it’s... Read more »
China recently increased the penalty for running yellow lights: offenders stand to lose fully half of their 12 “points” (if a driver loses all 12, he/she has to go through training and retake a driver’s exam) and must pay up to a 200 yuan fine. Some have interpreted the new regulation, which into effect yesterday,... Read more »
A minor traffic scrape yesterday at 10:40 am in Shanghai led to vehicular homicide. Around the intersection of Keji and Yuanmen Road, after a van and a cab bumped into one another, the cabbie exited his car to confront the other driver. The guy in the van, who wanted none of it, stepped on the gas pedal. The van's front wheel ran over the cabbie, who was then dragged 10 meters under the carriage.
Lectures, exhibitions, and online discussions marked China's first national day for for road safety yesterday. ("The timing was based on the date Dec. 2 for its appearance as '122,' the telephone number for reporting road accidents in China," says Xinhua.) In particular, the focus was on not running red lights, which reports have said have "claimed 798 lives in the first 10 months of 2012." (Only 798?) But China could use help in almost every area in road safety, as this story via The Nanfang shows:
Near Anshun, Guizhou province on Saturday morning, a traffic accident -- possibly a head-on collision -- resulted in massive fender-benders going both directions. On one side, 44 cars got tangled up; on the other, 25 cars. All told, 25 were injured and nine died. Traffic didn't return to normal until eight hours later.
A 69-vehicle accident indeed seems insane, but in China, it feels like business as usual.
A man walking through the street almost had the misfortune of having a car fall on his head. Or look at it this way: he was lucky enough to have not been killed by a car falling on his head.
See? So much better to see the glass as half full.
