Crazy Drivers

 

I will never understand the driving here in China!!!  Today I was walking home and came to this intersection.  I should interject that my cleaning lady was telling me about a girl who was killed after being hit by a car on this road.  I kept thinking about that as I walked.  So I came to this intersection, and if you look at my crude paint drawing of it, you can see that there was a road that came from the left and merged with the two lane road on the right.  What I didn't draw well was that to my left was a wall, and a bunch of trees, so I couldn't see around the corner. 

 

A driver came in the green arrow lane and suddenly stopped right in the middle of the lane.  Drivers in China do that.  They decide to make a phone call, or blow their nose, or look at a text, and just stop the car wherever they are.  I can't phathom why they don't pull over to the side of the road.  I will never understand this.  But it's very, very common, even on the freeway, where it is most dangerous of all.  So because that car was stopped there, another car came up behind and passed them on their left.  Another car also came along, but instead of passing on the left, they drove on to the sidewalk!  The sidewalk doesn't have a curb there, it is flush with the level of the street.  So I'm walking along and seeing cars coming straight at me!  They all veered off of the sidewalk after they passed the stopped car, and went in to the normal lane.  But meanwhile, I was very worried that a car would come careening around the corner on the sidewalk and wipe me out!  And I couldn't see around the corner because of bushes, so I couldn't tell if a car was even coming! 

 

I will never, never understand why people here drive the way they do.  There is no rule of law in traffic.  There is no order.  It's a huge free for all.  I think it partly comes from not growing up in a driving culture.  Many of these people are first generation drivers.  But they all had to pass the written test when they got their license.  They all know the laws.  But NO one follows them. 

 

 I will never understand.  "shakes her head".