If you're one in a million...

Evidently we haven't outsourced the manufacture of stop signs to them.
 
They drive like that here, too, and we do have stop signs. At least once a week since I've been living here, there's been a smoosh-pah at the corner by my house.

Luckily, we have the firehouse right around the block, so none of them have been fatal -- so far. I'm also a former paramedic and my neighbor upstairs is a current one, so one of the other of us runs out to help if we happen to be here.

I don't recall a single accident in which at least one of the drivers wasn't Chinese-American. This past weekend, a Chinese food truck making a delivery to a church function ran the stop sign and got T-boned. (The raccoons and cats ate well that night.)

A friend of mine who's Chinese-American told me that the problem is that until recently, people from other countries who had driver's licenses in those countries were exempt from taking the road test to get a New York license. But according to my friend, in China, everyone has a driver's license (Driver Education is required in high school), but almost no one actually has a car.

So, according to my friend, for many years Chinese people came to this country having driven a car for a total of five or six hours back when they were 16 or 17, but never drove a car since then. Nonetheless, they were able to take their NYS written tests (in Chinese), get their road tests waived, and walked out with NYS driver's licenses.

I don't know if he's pulling my leg or not. He's usually pretty serious.

-Rich
 
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There is no tradition of Drivers' Education in China. Auto ownership by the masses is less than 10 years old.

Similarly for Flight education. It's a big hurdle ahead.....
 
bbchien said:
There is no tradition of Drivers' Education in China. Auto ownership by the masses is less than 10 years old.

Similarly for Flight education. It's a big hurdle ahead.....
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Thanks, Doc. I guess he's pulling my leg.

-Rich
 
Traffic is chaotic and poorly regulated, and right-of-way and other courtesies are usually ignored. Cars, bicycles, motorbikes, trucks, and buses often treat road signs and signals as advisory rather than mandatory. Pedestrians never have the right of way,
 
:( All of those people are just plain BAD! No one is even trying to look where they are going! And WTF is with the one accident where the vehicle that was still mobile seems like it keeps going?? Wow. :(
 
PittsDriver said:
But apparently they have tequila in great supply. I'm not sure what else could have explained some of those....
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Moutai is what they have a lot of.

I have seen some pretty horrendous traffic accidents in China. They are driving way more modern Japanese and American cars these days then back in the 1990s when they had local built cars that had zero safety equipment. Lot of people go through the windshields when they would have accidents then.
 
bbchien said:
There is no tradition of Drivers' Education in China. Auto ownership by the masses is less than 10 years old.
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In the Deng Xioaping days of China there was still the lost generation of the cultural revolution that would drive. There was this weirdness where there were a lot of 20 something professionals working for either 30-40 year old ex-pats or 60 year old long marcher locals. All the 30-50 years olds grew up in during the cultural revolutions and could do no work in the new capitalist economy because they were so poorly educated. This made them the natural taxi cab and private car driver class. There were still a lot of bicycles in Beijing at that time. Only Shanghai really had a lot of motorscooters. So these drivers would get all the gigs driving the private cars around. It was also impossible for foriegners to get drivers licenses, a new driver economy came into being.

Ex-pats and other foreigners can now get drivers licenses, private car ownership is much more common, bicycles are much rarer. It all equals people who don't know how to drive driving a lot more.
 
I think these people need bumper cars and a dose of common sense.
 
ScottM said:
Moutai is what they have a lot of.

I have seen some pretty horrendous traffic accidents in China. They are driving way more modern Japanese and American cars these days then back in the 1990s when they had local built cars that had zero safety equipment. Lot of people go through the windshields when they would have accidents then.
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Same here. Lots of bad drivers, crowded roads and different "rules" than we have here. Stop signs are regarded as suggestions, horns are used to get your way, left turn signals mean "you better slow down because I'm turning in front of you", the taxi drivers hide the seat belts in the back seat making the front THE place to be.
A few years ago I read the 37% of the car owners in China didn't have a drivers license three years ago. I don't think that statistic has improved much lately.
 
The one place in the world where I've feared for my life in a taxi is Shanghai. It's like that scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. "The only rule is that there are no rules."
 
When I was in Beijing most people were on bikes. I was imagining what a mess it would be if all those people were in cars. The bus driver we had who drove us through the mountains was one of the most precise drivers I've ever seen.
 
LearDriver said:
Its in their genetic coding somehow. Asians just aren't set up to be good drivers for the most part.
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Yes, this is a bit too much of a generalization to sit well. There are numerous American's of Asian extraction who drive just as well (or badly) as the rest of you.
 
ScottM said:
Wow that is a really racist type of statement! :mad3:

Also wholly untrue.
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Yeah, I guess Asian drivers get a bad rap because of racism. Most are just bad drivers. Maybe that's where that reputation comes from. BTW I have a couple of Asian friends who even laugh about. So go play your I'm so offended PC game with someone else.
 
LearDriver said:
Yeah, I guess Asian drivers get a bad rap because of racism. Most are just bad drivers. Maybe that's where that reputation comes from. BTW I have a couple of Asian friends who even laugh about. So go play your I'm so offended PC game with someone else.
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Based on what? Ignorance?

I have heard this before and in the right context from the right people it can be amusing. But to condemn a whole continent of people with a sweeping generalization is well, pretty darn ignorant and stupid. The statement you made says more about you than it does about Asian drivers. If you do not realize that then I am doubly sad for you.
 
ScottM said:
Based on what? Ignorance?

I have heard this before and in the right context from the right people it can be amusing. But to condemn a whole continent of people with a sweeping generalization is well, pretty darn ignorant and stupid. The statement you made says more about you than it does about Asian drivers. If you do not realize that then I am doubly sad for you.
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And I for you.
 
The thing about sterotypes...they are laced with a bit of truth. I'm not going to say all Asian drivers are bad, but the only time I've ever truly believed I was going to die in a car was when I was a passenger and the driver was a Vietnamese 20-something female, and I wasn't even in the car for more than 5 minutes.
 
ScottM said:
Really not Dehli?

When I was in a taxi in Dehli I kept hearing Robert Duval in my head. Kept saying "Rubbing is racing"
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I haven't been to India, so I'll have to pass on that one for now. If I get there, and the taxis are worse than Shanghai, I'll let you know. :D
 
LearDriver said:
Its in their genetic coding somehow. Asians just aren't set up to be good drivers for the most part.
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A large part of the problem is that many Chinese drivers never even rode in a car until they were adults. So, they don't have the learning that many of us got by riding with adults as children.

One generation living in the US and they do get much better.
 
I thought driving in Greece was nuts.

Until I drove in Italy.
 
flyersfan31 said:
I thought driving in Greece was nuts.

Until I drove in Italy.
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I had often wondered why Boston drivers are so bad. Then, driving in Rome a number of years ago it hit me. There are lots of Italians in Boston. It must be hereditary.
 
Ghery said:
I had often wondered why Boston drivers are so bad. Then, driving in Rome a number of years ago it hit me. There are lots of Italians in Boston. It must be hereditary.
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That's racist!!!!!
 
EdFred said:
That's racist!!!!!
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Technically - no. He just pointed out that there are lots of Italians in Boston. He didn't say anything about those Italians, other than their location.
 
Sarcasm isn't a second language for you is it? ;)
 
LearDriver said:
Yeah, I guess Asian drivers get a bad rap because of racism. Most are just bad drivers. Maybe that's where that reputation comes from. BTW I have a couple of Asian friends who even laugh about. So go play your I'm so offended PC game with someone else.
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Dude, when you say it like this:
LearDriver said:
Its in their genetic coding somehow. Asians just aren't set up to be good drivers for the most part.
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...that is the very definition of a racist comment.
 
Ghery said:
I had often wondered why Boston drivers are so bad. Then, driving in Rome a number of years ago it hit me. There are lots of Italians in Boston. It must be hereditary.
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Bwahahahaha! That's because they're too busy talking with their hands to be driving!!! :rofl:
 
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