Seems the cops have a budget problem. Or their quota of traffic fines. So, in the past two days they come out in force and stop cars to extract fines. Yesterday the taxi we took was stopped and fined because the driver was not using the seat belt. Seems reasonable. Is it? Sun was sitting in the front seat, she did not need to wear the seat belt. Passengers can get killed, no problem. The police protects the drivers! Aren’t they nice?
Well, of course, they aren’t. They are actually totally useless and love to make life miserable for the 66,000 taxi drivers. Whenever they are around, traffic gets into a mess. Like to block traffic for some so-called VIP cars. Why can’t they just get stuck in traffic like everybody? Anyway cops don’t do anything to regulate traffic and penalize the zillion offenders in front of their noses: cyclists and pedestrians crossing anytime and anywhere, blocking traffic; drivers all slowing down to talk on their mobiles; all other drivers behaving as if they were completely alone on the road. Result: the total traffic chaos we see everyday. Don’t expect that to improve any day soon.
Today we passed a traffic accident. Seems somebody was killed by an army car (you can spot them through their special plate), just at a zebra crossing. The car must have been speeding, looking at the damage at the front. The only thing left of the victim were his lonely sneakers. You won’t see the cops stopping those cars. As many others with “special plates”, they can do whatever they want. Traffic was blocked because of the accident. Don’t expect the cops to do anything about that, like re-directing the traffic flow.
And, oh, I failed to mention. Don’t expect pedestrian crossings to give you, stupid pedestrians, any rights (who walks anyway? are you too poor to have a car?). Some of our French customers were moved down in Beijing on the zebra, together with their Chinese colleagues. They all landed in hospital, some of them were in a bad shape. Will teach them to give trouble to the cars. Don’t expect the cops to even NOTICE that. Not their job. I just wonder, what is their job actually? Will be interesting to watch in August 2008. But probably they’ll simply ban ALL cars, problem solved, Beijing way.
Friends say, Shanghai is better. Let’s hope, all thinking about 2010.
Some of you may think, what is Gilbert rambling about. To illustrate, see here a recent article. I am not sure the cops read this. Of course, that’s normal: it is in English. Also, the words “rules” and “etiquette” are a bit too complicated for their vocabulary.
30 November 2006 – Senior police officer warns Chinese drivers to give way to pedestrians
Source: Xinhua / That’s Beijing
A Chinese police officer on Thursday warned motorists to give way to pedestrians at zebra crossings, saying 55 people had been killed on pedestrian crossings in November.
“It’s nothing to wait a moment. In fact, it’s a basic traffic rule to give way to pedestrians at zebra crossings,” said Wang Jinbiao, deputy director of traffic bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, at a press conference on traffic accidents in the first 11 months.
He called for motorists and pedestrians to obey the traffic rules.
“Obeying rules is a virtue that deserves praise and respect,” said Wang.
As the number of cars rises rapidly in China, the rules and etiquette of driving have sparked public debate.
About 350,000 traffic accidents occurred in China in in the first 11 months with a total death toll of 82,000. The number of deaths was down 8.4 percent from the same period last year.