And pollution has little hope to improve anytime soon.
Talks are on again to change the ridiculous “Law on Traffic Safety”, in particular article 76.
To put it simple, according to the law whenever a car hits a pedestrian he will be held liable.
What it means: if a pedestrian crosses a highway where he is not allowed to even come and he gets hit by a car, the driver will be considered liable. And pay a huge fine. Happened already in Beijing on the 2nd Ring Road.
So, pedestrians can ignore any traffic light, any rule. Cars are afraid to hit them. So, they do whatever they want.
As Chinese traditionally never obey rules anyway, have no notion of being “courteous” and consider themselves above everything and everybody, chaos in traffic is the result.
Of course, cars also never respect bikes nor pedestrians. Pedestrians crossings are for pure decoration purposes.
The police never intervenes when bikes or pedestrians cross at the wrong time or use the wrong lanes or the side walks. Nor when cars (nearly) drive over people who cross according to the rules.
Talking on the phone when driving should result in a 200 RMB fine. But drivers smoke, chat, slow down to a crawl in the middle of the road and that’s all “normal”. I’ve never seen police stop them.
So, if you wonder why the chaos in Beijing, you know.
And don’t expect any improvement soon.
I have a driver’s license but I refuse to drive myself, don’t want to buy a car and mostly use taxis and subway, or simply walk. Better for the environment, and for my nerves.