Chinese Bumper Cars

Well today was a busy day so no time for picture taking... Since many of you have asked I will tackle the subject of city driving in Harbin, China. First, imagine bumper cars, except right before you hit someone, you honk your horn and both cars slam on the breaks. That only begins to describe the experience of driving around in this city.

You have to realize that the roads are not just for cars. Here is a list of transportation modes you can find on the city streets: Cars, big busses, little busses, old pickup trucks from the 30's, donkeys, motorcycles, motocycle carriages, bicycles (both ridden and pushed), bicycle pick up trucks loaded with supplies (see picture from yesterday), pedestrians, and of course street sweepers. Now by street sweepers I do not mean the American version of a mini zamboni cleaning the streets with automatic brushes. I mean a person in the middle of the street with a broom and dustpan.

All of these things share the road in a chaotic fashion. Yes, there are traffic lights, and they also have a count down until they will change next, which is a nice feature. Each side of the main roads usually has 3 lanes, and the lanes are well marked, yet completely unused. Some roads have a metal fence type barrier running down the middle to keep traffic on its own side. The side streets are like any US city in the winter, cars parked on both sides and barely enough room for one car to pass even though traffic is going both ways.

Every mode of transportation crosses over all the lanes looking for the fastest way to their destination. It is not unusual to have donkey or bicycle stopped dead in the middle of the left lane. If someone or something is stopped in front of you, you simply pull into one of the other lanes, or oncoming traffic if those are full. Instead of using mirrors or turn signals, people simply honk their horn to tell others they are coming through. It is not an option to be stopped in traffic if there is any open room to move, even between two cars who are in their lanes. Remember, the lane lines are only there for decoration, anway they will probably be covered in snow soon for the next five months.

Honking at pedestrians is also important, because they do not have the right of way. Cars do not stop for them, they beep and assume the will move. Which they do, but only if they have to at the last minute. So pedestrians will move one lane at a time until they get across the street. Sometimes they end up standing in the middle of the road inches between busses passing them at 30-40 MPH on both sides, just waiting for the next chance to move one lane closer to the side of the street for which they are headed. There are some rotaries too. A rotary is very Chinese I have decided. There are no lanes and you just beep and merge. They probably actually flow more smoothly in China than in the US. However, the donkeys and bikes and pedestrians cross right through the rotaries too.

Making a left turn is probably the scariest thing. In rare cases, a stop light might have a left turn signal, but many cars will turn left well after the signal has ended. If there is no signal, look out! Cars just slowly merge into oncoming traffic crossing the three lanes to make their turn, much like the pedestrians crossing the street with cars weaving around on either side of them. It really is amazing that there are not more accidents or gridlock.

With all that said, I have ridden twice in a car and once on a bus with the team, all three times with the team driver. He is VERY good. We do stop and start a lot but he gets us around. We only had one close call with the bus and a pedestrian, but I have felt fairly safe with him at the wheel.



I had said no pictures today, but here is a sunset through the rollercoaster in Harbin taken yesterday evening. Good night to you all from China....