The absurdity of it all....

Recently I have been noticing just how bad the driving is in Xiamen , not that I haven't seen this
before but there have been a few examples recently that made me gasp. I figured I would share a couple of those experiences.

The other day, a woman with a brand new Audi decided that she needed to make a left hand turn, but wasn't quite sure how she was going to do this as she was in the right lane of a 8 lane street. Cars were heading in her direction, but that didn't deter her as she continued to turn her car ever so slowly and proceeded to go over three additional lanes stopping her car in the middle of the street. I guess she wasn't sure where she wanted to go. I stood their mesmerized as cars were coming towards her. She decided that she wanted to make a u-turn but then stopped for a second. My guess is she saw a driveway and it seemed safer. She had to cross over another lane before she reached safety. As I stood and watched this, I noticed that no one honked, yelled or screamed at this person, they merely drove around her. Glad I wasn't a passenger!

Yesterday, I was travelling on the bus heading to school, when a van in front decides he will go from 100 kms to 10kms in a blink of an eye sending the bus a screeching halt, catching people off guard and throwing passengers onto fellow passengers. Apparently the man in the van didn't like the direction that he was travelling and decided he too was going to make a u-turn. He turned the car, while the bus and the oncoming traffic patiently waited for him. At this point he decides he doesn't want to complete the turn and returned the car in the original position. Like the first crazy driver, no one honked, yelled or screamed, they waited and continued on as if nothing happened.

We learned that there were articles written in the China Daily News back in the spring about the number of Chinese paying friends to take their written tests. Comforting to know that people are driving around China with no clue as to the rules of the road. We also discovered that many times people will graciously hand over "gifts" to the instructors. Just to ensure that they pass their driving test. That may explain some of the taxis we've been in. We know of two people where taxis ran over their feet.

One of our Chinese friends proudly declared that if they can drive in China, they can drive anywhere in the world. Mmm, I've seen some of those drivers back home, and I'm not that convinced.