Beijing traffic

If I die in Beijing, it's likely to be from a traffic accident. There's very little violent crime here, so I feel safe just about anywhere anytime , day or night. But the traffic accident death toll here is 10 times what it is in developed countries.

A lot of people complain about how crazy the traffic is for people in cars, but that doesn't bother me. Cars and bikes and motorcycles are constantly darting right in front of each other and switching lanes at turbo speed with no notice. And cab drivers almost never curse or get upset at the most brazen things; they just work their way around it, because they know they do it, too.

What does bother me, though, is this kind of behavior when I'm a pedestrian, because pedestrians are a lot more vulnerable. In the US, we're used to the pedestrian having the right of way in doubtful situations, in order to protect the pedestrian. So when I would see the green walk sign (just like we have in the US), I assumed I had the right of way. But here in Beijing, it appears the only time the pedestrian has the right of way is when a car wanting to go straight has a red light. If the car at the stoplight is turning right, he won't stop for you. If someone from an intersecting street is turning left onto your street, he won't stop for you. Also, people coming out of driveways won't stop for you. The pedestrian must stop, or he will be run over. I've seen an elderly woman with a cane crossing the street and a car going at full speed (who definitely saw her) didn't slow down a bit. He came within 3 inches of hitting her.

To be fair, the pedestrians really do push it. On a major street I saw an old man look directly at a cab going 40 mph and step right in front of him from 100 ft away. It's the "They'll stop" method of driving a car, or as we call it in the US, "playing chicken". If one brave person gets in front of a car, no matter how close it is, everyone waiting follows immediately. I've actually done the "Hey! I'm walkin here!" scene from Midnight Cowboy (in English), minus hitting the hood of the car.

What's even worse than the cars are the bicycles and motorcycles, because they ride right on the sidewalk with pedestrians, at full speed. And the motorcycles are electric, so you can't hear them any more than you can hear a bicycle. They can be right behind and pass you on one side, coming wthin one inch. I have lost count of how many times I've come so close to being hit by a bike or motorcylce. It's a several-times-a-day occurence.

BTW, most Chinese sit in the front of the cab instead of the back, same as I did back home the first couple of times I took and cab and didn't know any better. But some of the cabs have barriers separating the driver from the front-seat passenger.