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Q: Anyone know the rules of the road?
Ok, here's the scenario that I'm confused about: you're riding a bike on a four lane road and you want to turn left. In England you would move over to the middle of the road and then take the turning in the same way as any vehicle. My wife says that what you should do here is stay on the far right, wait till there is a space, then go across. Anyone know which it is?
I offer this as someone who scored 92 on the China Road Rules Test...
The bicycle is a vehicle, so a left hand turn should be make from the inside of the right hand lane, when no other vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction, and if it's safe to do so, and before the light goes red.
But, as per every other test undertaken by an individual in China,...one should promptly disregard everything memorised for the test and continue on in the same way jungle like fashion as before. By following this method the 5000 years of history can continue and nothing will change.
icnif77:
Did you spot how red/green lights turn off/on in China? Red turns off, and green lighted up instantly for opposite traffic.
In other words, if pedestrian cross the road by the end of green light, and red light turns on while pedestrian is in the middle of the crossing, all opposite traffic cars will jump you, because they have green light already.
In West, if you step on pavement by the end of green light, you can safely continue, because opposite traffic cars will get green light with delay.
royceH:
In China a pedestrian is at best a nuisance, at worst a target. One thing a pedestrian definitely is not, is valuable. Many many people...very very tired. Fkem.
'No road rules here', that's the main rule
.
There aren't familiar with Western driving rules here (in Asia) and car has right way, before everybody else in China-world, so I'd respect your wifey's 'pedestrian crossing rule'. It's safer, than move over to the middle of the road.
I don't remember last time how I made L turn with my bike, but I guess I moved over to the middle automatically and made turn.
mArtiAn:
Well I know it's 'no rules' and China is the middle kingdom beyond thunderdome deathrace 2000 bla bla bla, but there 'are' rules, of course there are, everyone breaks them, I want to know 'those' rules. So I can break them too.
icnif77:
'Stay alive' when outdoors is the only rule.
Nothing to break here
.
I think, the safest is to cross the road as pedestrian twice, and continue on the L road. Here, vespas cross the road as pedestrians - driving, and continue on L road pavement in opposite direction of the incoming traffic of the L road.
Sometimes, car from the up-coming L road will 'rape' you with his L turn, despite red light on their side, beside the cars behind you, making same L turn. On the top of that, cars on opposite direction all have right way, while making their R turn ('cause green light) in China.
'add-it': 'if you would get hit by car while making L turn Western way (middle of the road), it wouldn't be your fault for insurance purposes/punitive damage. I'm guessing here!'
I have seen semis on a freeway give way to unicycles. Mostly all 4 wheeled vehicles give way to any vehicle with less wheels
then there is the unwritten rule of any vehicle with lees than 4 wheels not having to obey trafic lights or signs
then there is another unwritten rule- that of stare the driver down
this goes for pedestrians as well
stare straight into the eyes of any driver in a certain killer way and then you have right of way
There are no rules unless:
(a) police are watching
or
(b) If you drive a black merc and you're a bit of a jerk, you consider yourself exempt from any rules...rules are for peasants
I offer this as someone who scored 92 on the China Road Rules Test...
The bicycle is a vehicle, so a left hand turn should be make from the inside of the right hand lane, when no other vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction, and if it's safe to do so, and before the light goes red.
But, as per every other test undertaken by an individual in China,...one should promptly disregard everything memorised for the test and continue on in the same way jungle like fashion as before. By following this method the 5000 years of history can continue and nothing will change.
icnif77:
Did you spot how red/green lights turn off/on in China? Red turns off, and green lighted up instantly for opposite traffic.
In other words, if pedestrian cross the road by the end of green light, and red light turns on while pedestrian is in the middle of the crossing, all opposite traffic cars will jump you, because they have green light already.
In West, if you step on pavement by the end of green light, you can safely continue, because opposite traffic cars will get green light with delay.
royceH:
In China a pedestrian is at best a nuisance, at worst a target. One thing a pedestrian definitely is not, is valuable. Many many people...very very tired. Fkem.
when I was a kid/young adult if something was terribly disorganized we would say it was like a Chinese Fire-Drill. Living here a long time now I understand how that saying came to be.
If you want to get a taste of Chinese driving 'Rules', go to a medium/small city (3rd tier) in one of the less developed provinces, Henan for instance, and then go to the outskirts of the city, find yourself a medium-size intersection, the kind without traffic lights, and stand back and just watch. Good fun!
China Rule No.1:
"If it's not broken, it isn't a rule or law".
