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Q: How safe it is to drive in smaller cities, say Suzhou?
I've heard people complaining about how Chinese drive, is it a safe choice to drive in China? Has anyone ever tried driving in China? How was the experience? Thanks!
If you drive a tank it's pretty safe. If you drive a small Chinese built car you might as well slit your wrists from home and save the time.
I don't have a license. I have test driven a car at a dealership, maybe 15 mins on actual road. It is a lot more demanding than, say Germany, as you have to constantly expect the unexpected like cars coming from side roads not stopping, horse carriages, busses crossing 4 lanes in one go, trucks doing u-turns where ever they like, children playing, pot holes the size of Canada, broken traffic lights, being blinded by other vehicles with the high beams stuck on, homeless dogs, homeless people, sporadic changes in lane configuration, e.g. one moment there are 4 lanes, the next only 3 without any signage.
Remember to wear sunscreen when you take a drive in China.
Scandinavian:
remember you need to take a drivers license in China to be able to legally drive.
we sometimes hire a guy, a friend of a friend, who has a Corolla, for a few red ones he will drive us anywhere as long as he hasn't got conflicting plans
Isn't Suzhou the place with all the Canals ? You know where this is going don't you?
Scandinavian:
what Phil means is that all the canals are jammed full of cars after people have sporadically driven of the roads.
I have been driving here for over three years. Its not difficult at all once you get the hang of it. They're a lot of myths people dream up. The two biggest ones are:
1. In an accident the foreigner is always at fault. I have only had one minor accident, got sideswiped by a truck. Cop said the other driver was in the wrong and the guy gave me 300rmb (cost 250 to fix).
2. If you have an accident you must pay hundreds of thousands of RMB in compensation. This is only if you do like most Chinese and buy the bare-bones minimum insurance policy (I think 10000rmb in property damage limit) or don't spend the extra 300rmb, or so, for 100% coverage vs 80%, otherwise insurance pays everything.
