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Q: What is the penalty for driving without a license?
A fine?
Imprisonment?
Car confiscated?
Visa cancelled?
10 years 12 weeks ago in Visa & Legalities - China
They recently had a crackdown here in Shenzhen, and a famous Chinese Olympian was made an example of recently in Beijing.
Automatic 2000 RMB fine and 2 weeks in jail. No trial or investigation. If no license those two things are guaranteed.
About the deportation thing, I have heard various accounts. That could be a case by case thing I guess as the law is just 2K and 2 weeks. But if you break the law in China they have the right to deport you. So drive at your own risk!
Wouldn't a bottle of Moutai do the trick?
If the police all of a sudden started enforcing laws around here(ie; doing their jobs!), the people won't have a clue how to cope and it could well be the beginning of the end.
mike695ca:
no they definatly dont do their jobs. Just saying they laws if they decide to, or during a " crackdown" like shenzhen is having. But before I got my license, i drove for 4 years without one. Been stopped twice. Just showed my canadian one, and pretending not to speak a word of chinese. Both times they couldnt be bothered, just kinda told me to screw off.
Scandinavian:
ah. Canada. My license is from a country they likely have not heard about.
will the World ever one day truly embrace the concept of an International Driver License ?
alas... probably not in any of our lifetimes.
Scandinavian:
if China did that, wouldn't it imply allowing Chinese drivers onto the roads of the world?
diverdude1:
yeah, I get your point. It would have to be more like an agreement between certain countries. UK dude can drive in the US (other side though!) US dude can drive in the UK.
but actually I think systems like that are already in place, or at least they were. My father drove rental cars all over Europe in the '70's and I can assure u he did not have a Danish, German, Netherlands, French, Spanish, Belge, Italian DL....
brother1818:
My dad got an international driver's license and was allowed to drive in Portugal and Spain a couple years ago. And we drive on the other side of the road.
Chinese license holders can drive in Austraila.
mike695ca:
right away? or do they have to switch it over, just no tests?
Come on China, go with the flow!. Being a Brit, can drive and have done, all over Europe. I was driving a 7.5 tone truck from Dover to the Ukraine legally. I also can drive a bus too. Did my PSV in the UK in 2003. On my International license can drive the same in other countries non E.U. With a 20 years of experience, all i can ride/drive in China is a dam push bike. Oh and a 1000 question exam? in chinglish and more red foreigners tape, and the over priced fee`s. All this just to have a Licence to prove you can!.. Nah! I shall wait till i go back home. Least i know motor insurance is mandatory to drive.
Come on China, go with the flow!. Being a Brit, can drive and have done, all over Europe. I was driving a 7.5 tone truck from Dover to the Ukraine legally. I also can drive a bus too. Did my PSV in the UK in 2003. On my International license can drive the same in other countries non E.U. With a 20 years of experience, all i can ride/drive in China is a dam push bike. Oh and a 1000 question exam? in chinglish and more red foreigners tape, and the over priced fee`s. All this just to have a Licence to prove you can!.. Nah! I shall wait till i go back home. Least i know motor insurance is mandatory to drive.
cooter:
Insurance is supposedly mandatory here as well. Unfortunately, enforcement is only possible after an accident, or at the required 2 year vehicle inspection (which itself can only be enforced after police involvement of some kind....accident, traffic violation pullover---HAHA).
And the exam is only 100 questions, which are drawn randomly from a pool of over 1400 questions! At least, that's how it was 3 years ago. Probably added some more by now!
Scandinavian:
Yeah. I don't get the insurance. It is so-called mandatory, but you still hear of people getting hit by uninsured vehicles and then it is just "tough luck". How difficult would it be to crosscheck the motor vehicle register with the insurance companies, and if a car exists without insurance, go pick it up. (or pick up the person who lies about the fact that he doesn't know where it is)
DONT drive without a license! Its true a lot of the time the police will look the other way, but it can land you in the slammer for 14 days. The real problem comes if you have an accident. Without a Chinese license insurance can legally, and will, refuse to pay any claim which leaves you holding the financial bag. On top of that, if someone is killed or injured you can pretty much count on criminal charges. Don't do it, its stupid and not worth the risks.
I do not drive here, but I have three or four times in my ten plus years here. My wife has a car. One day around 2008 she was out of town, it was a beautiful Saturday and I decided to "steal" her car and go for a ride.
I had fun mostly. I was not afraid of the police perse, but I kept my eye out for them. I would never drive without a license in the USA because more than likely if caught, I would be thrown in jail for it. Drove up to the tea fields, some park lands, just had fun mostly driving the car, since it is something I rarely do.
First thing I noticed that in my city, that there was no place to park at all. The very limited space available there would be a meter maid running up to charge me money to park there.
Second and more importantly, I was afraid to get into an accident or hitting another car or person. Basically, Chinese are horrible drivers and people wantonly just cross the street anywhere. That put the fear in me and I drove the car home.
One thing I like about China and where I live is that I do not have to drive. I dont miss it one bit. Taxis are inexpensive and I also ride the city busses where I need to go. If I had to drive in China, I would eventually get arrested and deported for "road rage", because of the stupidity and the impatience of everyone else on the road. Mostly the freeways in China have no police on them at all, just speed cameras. Drunk driving, especially in the hinterlands happens a lot at night. Also outside the cities many people drive motor scooters (sometimes drunk and 98% of the time with no head gear).
I would recommend foreigners to not drive in China even if they are legal. if there is an accident, it is going to be your fault no matter what happens. Like I said before, Chinese are bad drivers and pedestrians. They do not look, drive stupidly, and are horrifically impatient. Just not worth the trouble in my opinion. Fuel is fairly expensive here too, as expensive as in the USA (probably cheap compared to most of Europe which is why is say "relatively"). In most of the large cities, traffic jams are quite frequent. Why go through the hassle?
I dont miss driving or owning a car at all. The fuel, buying insurance (I hate insurance companies with a passion, they are a bunch of thieves), taxes (in the USA, all kind of ridiculous taxes and fees, state tax, local tax, smog tax, license plates etc., not to mention dealing with the DMV). Think about how much money one saves by not having a car.
I do not drive here, but I have three or four times in my ten plus years here. My wife has a car. One day around 2008 she was out of town, it was a beautiful Saturday and I decided to "steal" her car and go for a ride.
I had fun mostly. I was not afraid of the police perse, but I kept my eye out for them. I would never drive without a license in the USA because more than likely if caught, I would be thrown in jail for it. Drove up to the tea fields, some park lands, just had fun mostly driving the car, since it is something I rarely do.
First thing I noticed that in my city, that there was no place to park at all. The very limited space available there would be a meter maid running up to charge me money to park there.
Second and more importantly, I was afraid to get into an accident or hitting another car or person. Basically, Chinese are horrible drivers and people wantonly just cross the street anywhere. That put the fear in me and I drove the car home.
One thing I like about China and where I live is that I do not have to drive. I dont miss it one bit. Taxis are inexpensive and I also ride the city busses where I need to go. If I had to drive in China, I would eventually get arrested and deported for "road rage", because of the stupidity and the impatience of everyone else on the road. Mostly the freeways in China have no police on them at all, just speed cameras. Drunk driving, especially in the hinterlands happens a lot at night. Also outside the cities many people drive motor scooters (sometimes drunk and 98% of the time with no head gear).
I would recommend foreigners to not drive in China even if they are legal. if there is an accident, it is going to be your fault no matter what happens. Like I said before, Chinese are bad drivers and pedestrians. They do not look, drive stupidly, and are horrifically impatient. Just not worth the trouble in my opinion. Fuel is fairly expensive here too, as expensive as in the USA (probably cheap compared to most of Europe which is why is say "relatively"). In most of the large cities, traffic jams are quite frequent. Why go through the hassle?
I dont miss driving or owning a car at all. The fuel, buying insurance (I hate insurance companies with a passion, they are a bunch of thieves), taxes (in the USA, all kind of ridiculous taxes and fees, state tax, local tax, smog tax, license plates etc., not to mention dealing with the DMV). Think about how much money one saves by not having a car.
mike695ca:
This is a serious question, and by no means any kind of attack on you at all, but, dont you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed having your wife drive you everywhere? Maybe im old school, but where I come from, the man drives and the woman generally rides. I dont know if i would be comfortable with that situation.
.Scandinavian:
@mike. You are old school. Having the wife drive is a great way for the man to be able to stay drunk while being transported. I know officially they are called cup holders, but when the wife is driving they are called Drinks Holders.
my wife is an excellent driver, she got a license in Europe before she got in China, so she has never been in a instructors car in China. Proper use of the car all the way.
Jesl:
Typical non-sense scare story from someone too afraid to do anything. Been driving for more than 3 years, never had a problem and during an accident cops sided with me. Having a car makes things 10 times easier.
Zhenglaien:
My wife does not drive me around usually unless we are in her hometown.
She does not want me to drive here. My wife for the record is a very intelligent woman, but she is a crap driver. She drives too slow for the traffic. She is overly cautious and frankly a nervous nelly on the road. I would love to teach her some things about driving. It is like some high school kid who plays basketball who wont take pointers from Michael Jordan. Not to elevate myself so much, but I have driven since I was 17, have a Commercial Drivers License from the United States and have driven across the United States several times, but she does not listen to anything I have to say. When one drives, one has to be careful. One needs to follow the flow of traffic. There is a time to use caution, and a time to just GO. She doesnt get it. I have asked her in humor who gave her the license so I can beat their ass.
It's not a big deal actually. I wish my wife would not drive, but she does and she does OK, and she drives everyday, and I think over time she has learned a lot, but is still way over cautious. She will also make decisions on the road that I would not do. Once she actually hit a motorbike driver making a turn on a green light. Fortunately, the driver of the bike was drunk as f***, was not injured and we went on our way. This is the concern.
I do not drive here in China because I do not want to. The drivers are 95% morons. There is little traffic enforcement besides cameras so people can be idiots. No discipline, and very, very little enforcement.
Just a few days ago, her grown son, my stepson was texting on the highway. I didnt say sh.t, but it still scared me. I will say that he has an onboard phone through his stereo so he can press a button on the consule and talk. My wife does not. If the phone rings, she talks into it driving. Once, we crossed the Zhejiang/Jiangsu border on the highway and she was talking on her phone, started to drive slow like Betty White on acid and I cursed her out and it was a long silence. Oh well.
I will say that actually driving here has improved somewhat and at least in the first tier cities there is more traffic laws and enforcement, including DUI checkpoints. Most of the roads in the first tier cities are so clogged with traffic, one cannot really screw up unless the driver is drunk. Where she lives, there is almost no traffic enforcement, lots of scooters, people crossing the road wherever, and I think it is hazerdous. Very third world. Would never drive here. And why would I?
You'll get a fine, around 5,000 rmb I think. The owner of the vehicle will also receive a fine and have the car confiscated. They will also get points on their license (if no license a record will be made and points added if they obtain a license in the future).
Depending on where you live and the distance you plan to travel you should be pretty safe from the law. That said it is better to get a license sorted, two options;
1. convert your current foreign license into a China license by taking the road law test on the computer. costs less than 500rmb
2. contact an expat agent who can help you to "purchase" a license. Costs around 7,000rmb
