80,000 deaths on Chinese roads last year
Excellent report from Al Jazeera:
Warning: video ID not specified!The driving school looks like one that China Car Times attended when he was just a wee whipper snapper, except we didn’t have the luxury of learning in a VW Santana, we had the dreaded Citroen ZX.
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Ash are you telling us that you learnt to drive in China?
Yes!
If one is to work in the Chinese Auto Industry, you must understand it from the ground up!
It was by far, one of the hardest series of exams I have ever taken, and yet it never prepared me for taking on the road system!
Back a few years ago when I inquired about getting a license, I would have had to take the full course, and that was after passing the written exam and I was not allowed to have an interpreter as I might cheat!!!
.
Things are better now as you only have to take the written exam and they will tell you the answers.
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But, I never got around to it.
That’s assuming you’ve got a license in another country! Plus I think you need to have had it for a certain number of years (if my memory serves me correctly, 3). I just took my license and translation plus some documents, and was then given a hearing and sight test. I was then asked when I wanted to do my theory test. At the same time I was issued with a sheet of the questions, answer choices and the correct answers. I then had to go back and do my test on computer in English. I was then issued with my Chinese license.
Do chinese road accident deaths got to do anything with the poor safety measures in majority of its vehicles?
I would say there are a variety of reasons. Poor safety measures is one of them both from the hardware and software! Many people do not wear seatbelts and allow the kids to treat the car as a bouncy castle. Has anyone ever seen a child seat in China? Most cars have few airbags and limited crash safety.
Then there is the question of the driving license. Many people probably don’t have one, paid someone else to take the test for them or have a fake license. I haven’t taken the practical test but the anectodal stories I’ve heard seem to say it doesn’t prepare you that well for real driving.
Compounding this is the poor driving skills of many plus often a kamikaze attitude to traffic by cyclists, moped riders and pedestrians.
Ash, you are still luckier than me. I was instructed in a 20 year old FAW truck! There was no PAS, so I needed to steer the wheel 3 rounds to make a turn!
But that was in 2002.
where you studying for a truck license???
ZX was 2.5 turns to turn left/right!
The number is bad and there are all sorts of issues but from the statistic point of view, population and the total number of vehicles of a country shall be put into consideration as well.
Total Road Deaths in the USA (google)
42,196 – 2001
43,005 – 2002
42,884 – 2003
42,636 – 2004
Hi Ash, I took my drivers test in a Wuling Minivan in LiuZhou city back in 2001. The test went fine and while the examiner was writing up his report I asked him if I had passed or failed. He told me I had passed but that he had some concerns with my driving. When I asked him what his concerns were he told me that i did not use the horn enough. Coming from the UK where we are too polite to use the horn except in anger. I nearly died laughing when the examiner told me I need to use it more.
Patrick,
In China, I get good value for money out of my horn! Its even got dirty where my hand is continually pressed against it
I read that GM make their horns to 10 times the standard in China or something because of their more frequent use.
Hello,Stop the clinical denial about driving on the left.
Many of the accidents will have been because China drives on the right
Driving on the left is correct for right-handed people the great majority, here is why:
When changing gear in a UK car with the steering wheel on the right , this is of course correct in the UK etc for driving on the left——–your left hand changes gear and your right hand stays on the steering wheel, (this is safer for right handed people.)
The reverse is the case in countries where one must drive on the right.– in other words if you live in the USA you hold the steering wheel with your left hand and change gear with your right hand because of course the steering wheel is on the left in the USA——–this is dangerous if you are right handed.
Bicycles: Bike riders are in real danger in countries where driving on the right is mandatory again assuming you are right handed—-Try mounting a bike in the USA and you will find yourself in the stream of traffic when getting on the bike—- try it yourself———: Mounting a bike in the UK is done from the sidewalk by right handed people who find it easier to put their right leg over the bike. , Much safer and this must have saved many lives.
Reversing up a steep drive: My drive in the UK is very steep———-when I reverse out I hold the steering wheel with my right hand and look over my left shoulder to the rear window. In a USA car you must hold the steering wheel with your left hand and look over your right shoulder to look out of the rear window.. So you must reverse with your left hand on the steering wheel.. Or stick your head out of the window if you want to use your right hand on the steering wheel. —Dangerous for the 82% right handed majority.
Right handed people who are also “right eyed” have the traffic coming toward them on their right in left hand driving areas , which is the way “right eyed” people are able to react better. When overtaking on a right hand driving USA road the right eyed/handed driver looks in the mirror with the left eye and also views the oncoming traffic with the left eye. A change of gear is sometimes needed to overtake so he/she is driving left handed while changing gear with the right hand and looking in the mirror and oncoming traffic with the left eye. Of course the gear change should in theory be completed before pulling out but this in practice is not always the case. The prevalence of automatic gear change in the USA may not be just luxury after all but necessity
Perhaps a billion cyclists in right hand driving areas around the world are all risking their lives mounting their bike in traffic. Also In right hand driving areas a greater number of people reverse with their heads out of the window and hundreds of millions of right handed drivers hold the steering wheel at speed with their left hand. There are over 6 billion people in the world today and billions of people using road transport. Driving on the left is safer and provably safer for right handed drivers; however I concede that because over 60% of the world drives on the right there is no prospect of a global change to driving on the left.
Mounting a horse, for further illustration of the problems caused by driving on the right just try mounting a horse from the right hand side (If you are right handed)
There is significant evidence that in the days of the Roman Empire everyone drove on the left. (That’s one in the eye for Hollywood!). This was partly because one mounts a horse from its left (we all do) and it was sensible not to be doing this whilst out ‘in the traffic’.
Also, carters needed their right arms free to wave swords at would-be attackers. Therefore they sat on the right hand end of the driver’s bench. When carts passed each other the drivers needed to be sure that they actually missed each other so they passed “driver to driver”. I.e. they drove on the left.
Evidence from Roman gold mines indicates that they drove on the left. The ruts left by the loaded carts leaving the mine are on the left side of the road whilst lighter empty carts entered on their left side.
Everyone in Europe changed to driving on the right when Napoleon started mucking around because he was LEFT handed and driving on the RIGHT is better for LEFT HANDED people .
Incidentally, French main line trains pass on the left too. This is because their railways were mainly built by British engineers. I don’t think that they’ve ever forgiven us for this
Regards Chris
I tried driving in the UK this week, it was a disaster. Pedals all over the place, and a clutch too! Gave up, parked it back on the drive and walked every where.
Driving in China is so much more fun anyway!