China Car Times

You may have seen the news about the unusually cruel winter weather that has struck southern China over the past week. Many news outlets have covered the events, which seem to be far more severe than what we read about, freezing winds, lots of snow have paralysed train stations, roads, and airports in a period of time when the worlds biggest human migration is underway as people return to their homes for the coming spring festival. Electricity has been knocked out leaving trains stranded, and homes without power.

Troops have been deployed (half a million, in total) to clear the icy roads, and clear snow, as well as handle the situation at train stations. One report China Car Times read stated that there were 150,000 people stranded at Guangzhou train station, thats a lot of people.

In a particularly unusual show of emotion, the Chinese Prime Minister bowed in apology to the families of three workers at a power company when they fell to their deaths carrying out a de-icing job. The Chinese Chairman, Hu Jintao, also ventured into the depths of a coal mine encouraging and thanking workers for not taking their holidays this year to get more coal to power stations in the South of China.

One forum user on the popular car site xcar.cn detailed his journey home through Jiangxi province and also posted pictures of what he saw. The pictures may shock some. The translation was done by China Car Times

7:30am, Shaoshan Hotel car park, as soon as I got out of the hotel, I nearly went flying, the stairs, the floor, everything was covering in ice that was approximately 2cm thick. I looked at my car, pretty much the full car was covered in a shell of ice. It took me 17 minutes to to scrape the ice of the windshield.

Yesterday on a frozen road in Shaoshan, I lost control of my car and it crashed into the road side barriers, so I had to stay in Shaoshan for two days until the insurance company came out to inspect my car. Why did I go to Shaoshan? Because the Jing Zhu north highway was closed, it didnt open again, I was thinking about Chairman Mao, at the time I was wearing a US Military clothes (jacket, pants, and boots) so perhaps the great Chairman was not happy and punished me by letting my car hit the barrier. This was to be the first time I got into trouble because of the icy road conditions.

The roads in the morning at Shaoshan were covered in thin ice, its a good job the roads didnt have cars as we were driving at speeds of between 2kph and 30kph. We listened to the Hunan traffic radio station only to hear that the road had been closed again, I was ready to drive to Changsha and then think about getting to Nanchang another way.

After an hour, I got to a steep hill, at the top there were 3 cars trying to paw their way to the top, they’d get close, then slip down again. Because the hill was so steep, many people would slow down, then they couldnt get up the hill. Because their cars were slipping everywhere, people put tree branches and hemp bags down on the floor to give their cars something to grip to. Once one got up to the top, the next one would have a go and getting up. As I was driving up, an old man shot past me in his car, he scared the wits out of me so I slammed on my brakes - game over- one more car that couldnt get up the hill. My tyres were spinning around like they were grasping at thin air. The car was nearly side ways, and lots of local farmers came out to enjoy the action. I reversed the car back 100 meters and put the car into second gear to get up the hill. I got to the top of the hill with no problem, but this was the second time the ice had given me trouble.

I took a national highway to Xiang Tan, then to Changsha. 107 National Highway was all covered in ice, and 100s of cars were queuing up. I followed a Traffic Police car out off the highway, so thankfully didnt have to spend any time queuing. When I got to Changsha, I was nearly swearing and cursing, every expressway was sealed up, every where there was nothing but big coaches, every hotel was full up. Because Hunan was limiting the power supply many people went to stay in hotels, where electricity was free flowing. Where should I go though? From the morning until now, I only ate two pieces of chocolate and I nearly have no energy left.

The only traffic communications tool I have, the radio, finally broadcast a piece of news: Chang Yuan expressway and the airport highway are now open.

I opened the map, this road goes from Changsha to Liu Yang, then it goes onto Ping Xiang (a small village) Ping Xiang has an expressway running through it to Nanchang, Nanchang to Jiu Jiang, Jiu Jiang to Huang Shi, as soon as I saw that route, I had energy, I had spirit. Although its the long way around, as long as it gets to the destination then its A-okay with me.

We got to Liu Yang, what a beautiful little city, the roads are really good! At 3pm I finally saw a sign saying ‘Hunan welcomes you back at any time!’, then I entered Jiangxi, and I knew good times were ahead!

The temperature in Ping Xiang was much higher, although the sides of the roads were still icy, the road itself was very arid. When I got to the toll booth leading onto the expressway, all I saw was many big X’s, indicating that the highway was closed, and 100s of cars queued up waiting to go in. ‘Oh my God‘, I thought, I can only take national highways now.

As soon as I got onto that slushy national highway, I heard that mysterious Nanchang Chinese accent, it gave good news, every Jiangxi express way was open, and I finally got onto an express way going to Nanchang.

The cars speed was kept at roughly 120kph, my GPS said Jiu Jiang was around 160km away. Jiangxi is great, none of that freezing to death feeling, just a little moist and some rain. I think around 9pm ill be in Jiu Jiang eating a hot meal, then Ill rest a night and tomorrow night ill be in Wuhan, ha ha ha!

The windscreen is a little fuzzy, so I sprayed some water on the windshield. Except it wont spray, the rear one sprays, but the front doesnt, whats up with this? Broken? Frozen? The cold of Hunan province seems to be carried with us.

The highway was practically empty, the cars around me were all carrying Guangdong license plates, because we werent far from our destination, everyone started to relax, but when you relax, danger slowly creeps up on you.

My car started floating left to right, I thought it was the winding blowing so I kept my speed at 110kph. In front of me there was an uphill, so I stepped on the gas, but the car in front of me stepped on the brakes.

I already stepped on the brakes, but basically, they were no use, you can only feel the vibration and jump of the ABS. The first push on the brakes, the second push, then I slammed the semi automatic gear box down a few gears. It felt like all around me there was nothing but cars, and in front a solid brick wall. Im resigned to my fate now, all I feel now is that tyres have gone over something like gravel. I finally stop. I turned on the hazard warning lights and stepped out my car. Holy shit, I dont know how many goods wagons have crashed into each other, but I seem to have hit one. The trucks come together like a giant barrier. If I would have been to the right a bit, I would have struck the trucks fuel tank.

On my right there was 6 or 7 trucks squashing a little car, on my left there was a truck that had smashed the crash barrier to pieces.

All of a sudden, a woman pulled me and shouted ‘Jump for your life!’ I looked around and saw a massive coach sliding towards me. Emergency situation! I jumped into the crash barriers in the middle of the highway. As soon as I grabbed that crash barrier, it was slippy as hell. In between the barriers there was an empty space (translation edit, thats odd, an empty space! Thre are usually trees!) Some guy fell down the hole (translation edit: gap between barriers shown in below picture!) and was shouting for help, he was shouting like a mad man. I ran to the barriers to have a look, then realised, the road is actually a bridge over a river.

I saw a small car come flying towards me, holy shit, I calculated he stopped no less than 1m from me, then another car came flying towards me. Everyone in these cars jumped out and ran to the barriers, because another car was coming at them even faster. We heard the sound of emergency braking, the car was all over the road, but finally came to a stop. We looked back and saw three big trucks coming right at us, those of us in the middle of the barriers were nervous wrecks. I was ready to climb on top of a truck out of harms way.

A small car was flying for what seemed like a full day, then followed the sound of crashing and striking, the car turned 360 degrees. Then another car hit the crash barriers, but the vehicle behind that was a big truck, and that really didnt have any chance of braking in time. The truck dragged a few cars with it, all you could hear was the sound of an earthquake, and bits of cars being thrown up into the air. Their was smoke filling up the air, the earthquake like rumbling sound continued, the bridges were shaking.

5 minutes later everything was quiet again, I dont know how many cars that big truck hit. One guy, a Jiang Xi driver, saved a kid, just as a truck hit the back of his car.

We went to have a look at the back of the cars - holy shit - a police car was squashed until it was 2m long. The Jiangxi driver said he pulled the policeman out of the car,  and also a woman with child. There was another car that was squashed, we shouted to the occupants, but there wasnt a reply.

At this point there was still people jumping between the middle crash barriers, someone was shouting for help. The Jiangxi driver ran over and dragged a woman out of the gap between the barriers. Everybody went into self-rescue mode, everyone started checking nearby cars and people. Another driver and myself went to check on the cars at the front.  It seems at first there was ten or more cars at the front which crashed together, perhaps causing the big trucks to crash. We saw an oil tanker, someone said it was empty, but the air was thick with the smell of diesel and gasoline.

After 40 minutes someone came with a flashlight, he searched the cars for injured people, someone said there was a baby in the squashed police car.

A few northern drivers were anxious, they were discussing how they could get the baby out. A cry came from the squashed police car - it wasnt a normal cry, it was a cry for help. At this point, freezing rain fell from the sky, and nobody could stand it, everyone went back to hide in their cars. The police finally arrived, searched the squashed police car and said there was no one inside. The police were cursed by the people present - Why didnt you come earlier? they angrily asked.

The firemen came and used many tools, but we felt that rescuing people already has no meaning. A doctor came over and said that a tyre had flown off a vehicle and pinned a man to the wall, puncturing his intestine and stomach. Nobody had any words to say.

The ambulances came and took people of the coaches, coming and going they were. Paramedics checked the cars that were pinned by other crashing cars, but there really was no way to be 100% sure there wasnt some trapped in there. A Henan guy ran over and asked if we think his drivers driving license is real or not - apparently when he wanted to call the insurance company, the driver pulled out his wallet, which gave the Henan guy funny ideas. Because the exit of the express way wasnt far away, people started to walk towards it, leaving their cars and belongings behind.

As the night faded away, the no of traffic police increased dramatically, they came to calm and reassure us.  The police say they cant clear up the scene until tomorrow, because the bigger trucks cant get off the road. Gritters eventually came onto the highway to lay down salt. I stayed in my car, thinking about the people that fell down the gap in the middle of the crash barriers - do they still need help? All night I could hear the screams in my head.

It started snowing again, after 30 minutes my car was frozen. Would those who were trapped in their cars make it through the night, or would they freeze to death?

At 2 or 3am, I suddenly woke up, I could hear screaming. I could hear a child screaming from under the bridge. Many torches were shone under the bridge, but nobody could see anything because of the slush.

Inside the car it was cold, I turned the engine on to keep the car warm, only a few of us had cars with the engine intact, many cars were just scrap metal now. I have no idea how those people made it through the night. In the morning, the sound of heavy lifting equipment arrived.

The sky had just broken, and the road was quiet. Every where you looked, there was nothing but destruction.  The first car was taken away, a Citroen Elysee, it was nothing but scrap metal.

The oil tanker wasnt in bad shape, the engine still turned over, so the driver was able to drive to the side of the road. The other trucks had to be towed away by a crane, one at a time, they left the front of the accident scene.

This night was cold enough to kill. Perhaps I just slept a total of one hour, my ears just kept hearing the cries of a man and woman, were they real, or imagined? I didnt know. I opened the car door and found the floor to be even icier than before. Although the road has been salted, the nights snow has compounded the salt into the ice sandwich. Everyone got up and had a look at the crash site, in total there were three major crash areas - the first with the ten or more cars, the second with the trucks, and the third at the back where many cars had piled into each other. One car had become sandwiched between two trucks, we couldnt see the tail end of the car, and we didnt know if anyone was hurt.

I went to a big truck from Shandong - the only truck that didnt crash - the driver jumped down to talk with us ‘Bro, you’re really lucky’ I said, the driver sighed  ‘If that car wasnt horizontal across the highway, I wouldnt have slowed down at all, and we’d all be finished, hows your car?’ I laughed ‘This year both of us have had good luck!’ The Jiangxi driver came over and the Henan guys driver came over. We chatted about last nights accidents, the more we thought about it, the more scared we became.

“Do you have boiled water, Mister, my kid was crying all night because shes hungry and thirsty” I looked around, a farmer lady pushed a beat up old flask towards me. I told her I didnt have any. I helped her ask several other drivers, who all also said they didnt have any. I looked in one truck that had a broken thermos flask, but it didnt have any warm water. I went back to the trunk of my car, and give her the chocolate and beef jerky that I usually give to little kids to her, the Jiangxi driver gave his only pack of peanuts to her.

The sky was finally bright, the tourists from the coach kept going upto the crashed cars and randomly taking things. We disturbed them many times, but some of them were wearing clothes of the rescuers (police, ambulance and fire depts)

The Jiangxi driver asked the crane operator if this was possibly the worst car crash to ever occur in Jiangxi, the operator said it wasnt, the worst crash had 130 cars in it.

I started to look for cars from Shenzhen, I found one Honda Accord that had been completely crushed. A nearby driver said the occupants jumped out before the truck hit. Lucky!

A little later, I found a Shenzhen license plate Mitsubishi Delica, it had completly lost its front end, passengers in the front and rear were hurt. I ran to the front of the car, and found a Shenzhen VW Sagitar, the driver was on his way to Huanghai. He said the engine still turns over, I looked at the engine, the water tank and the radiator were game over, the A pillar was fine though. The driver said his little brother fell under the bridge last night, and still doesnt know how, or where he is.

The police came around and took everyones driving license, those of us who didnt have any serious accidents were keen to get on our way, but the police patiently told us that every road was sealed, and we couldnt go anywhere. The police said they also want to inspect the scene to find out what happened, and there was no way we could go, we waited patiently.

The Henan guy, and his driver were standing out in the cold. I told them to come over and sit in my warm car. He was busy on the phone, he was calling his boss, the insurance co, and some other people he knows. His car was carrying scallions (a type of Chinese onion) to Beijing, this type of delay will ruin his stock. The car to come and pick up the stock cannot get here either, so it looks the like the goods are ruined. He had a look of despair in his eyes.

On the opposite side of the road, there was another body lined up - the corpse of a young 20 year old girl. We heard the corpse was found under the bridge, it seems when she jumped for her life, she also accidentally took her own without realising it. She jumped into the middle of the crash barriers, and fell down to the icy river.

The squashed police cars engine still turned over, and made everyone shocked. Who would have thought it? There was a tyre that had frozen to clothes, and the body of male was brought out of the car.

Once the clean up operation began, the opposite side of the road had the addition of a male corpse, the corpse had little mittens on his hands, we think the boy was around ten years old. A worker covered him up with a blanket, he wasnt squashed to death or anything, it just looked like he was sleeping. Rest in Peace.

At around 11 O’Clock, the police made us come over and write a statement as to what happened here today. Three of us, who didnt really have much damage to our cars described what happened, the young policeman was very good. He called for a police car to take us off the express way, the police also brought a coach to take the tired drivers away, but because the scene was so big, many of the drivers couldnt leave.

At around 12 O’Clock,  the young policeman let us follow his car off the expressway, we passed the Jiangxi driver. He put out his hand to signal me, I opened the window to talk to him, he was really envious we could go. He was scared, I asked him what was up, he says the police car that hit the back of his truck was squashed, and the policemans daughter was killed, he wasnt sure if the police would prosecute him. I got out of the car to comfort him, and promised him I would be a witness if the police pressed charges. He thought if the police want to prosecute him, what can he do, he’s just a common man after all. All I could say was ‘You should believe that the law is fair’ I gave him my telephone number, and told him to call me if the police bother him. My last words to him were ‘Brother, you are a good man, today you saved a woman and her child, you will receive a good reward’

As I set off again, the young policeman came to me and asked if I could take some other drivers. Many of the people at the scene didnt eat or drink for 16 hours or more. Once we got off the expressway, by the side of Jiangxi Agriculturial university, me and the drivers said good bye.

The young policeman was very responsible, he lead us 10km to a big boulavard that had many hotels. He warned us that the roads in the city were also very icy. I was really thankful to him, a great man, I could really see the motto ‘Service for the people’ in his spirit.

By 5 O’Clock, the expressway was open again, by 8:30pm I was in Ji An, I found a room in a hotel and wrote the above story. I feel warm, I wrote the above account, then I thanked God, and I hope God can keep everyone safe.