Driving is different here
I’m often asked what kind of things are different between Canada and China to which my first response is always the same: the driving. It’s not so much of a critisim as it is simply is a very clear difference between two countries. My rule of thumb for safe travelling to any country you are unfamiliar with is to stand on a street corner for 5-minutes and just observe how people react to their surroundings. I have given that advice to people going from Canada to anywhere, and I’ve given that advice to my Chinese friends going to Canada.
My first feelings of the traffic here was similar to that in Thailand. In both countries, the traffic appears as total chaos to the untrained eye; however, oberservation will reveal that everyone knows how to get around safely except you. Some of these countries may have high road accident rates, but the greatest threat to your personal safety is YOU, because you don’t understand what’s going on around you. I came close to danger a few times in Thailand to learn this lesson, and Ryan had his own close calls when we first arrived in Beijing.
Anyway, I decided to write this post today after finding a video of traffic on a street corner in India. After 8-months of living in China I don’t find anything in this video very surprising, although I would add that Tianjin is generally more orderly than what you see in the video. If you’re curious what traffic can look like in some countries, make sure you watch this video.
Video of a busy intersection in India
Hob Gadling says: If you’ve visited India, you’ll know that driving is akin to a martial art. (They don’t give black belts yet, but they should!) Here’s a video I found on ‘It Rocks Everything’ showing a small intersection in India.
Things to look out for:
- The pedestrian momentarily trapped between a car and a scooter
- The white car in the top right corner which goes the wrong way
touque tip: BoingBoing.net
April 20th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
That rocks! I want to drive there!! It looks like organized chaos.