Biking in Beijing
So now that I have a couples in Beijing I feel like I have enough bike experiences to share with you guys.
First off I don't think anyone in China understands the simple concepts of traffic. This includes which side of the road to ride on and, more specifically, how to avoid crashing into other and inanimate objects.
The campus of Tsinghua University has a few main roads on it. There is a main which goes in front of the building where my classes are. This road goes north south. There is a road which goes east west that intersects the north south road. I can ride my bike on this road and then take a left at the intersection to go to class, but I usually take a less used route which takes me behind my building. I thought this route would be safer since there a fewer people, but I have seen my fare share of accidents or near accidents. For example the other morning I saw a student ride his bike directly into a small cement divider. The problem was that in one part of the road there are 4 or 5 small concrete dividers to add some organization to an otherwise unorganized system. Whenever people ride through this area they have to choose which columns to ride between. I saw two students, only two students, riding in the opposite direction try and decide which route to take. What struck me as odd is that neither of the students decided to change their mind once they both realized they were headed for the same spot. One of the students did not stop at all, while the other took his feet of the pedals and did not break at all before running into the small cement pillar. It seems like in a place where people ride bikes so often people would be experts at avoiding collisions. However, it is quite the opposite.
On top of this inability to avoid collisions, I do not think people understand what a blind corner is. In just about the same place I described before there is a bend in the road. At the bend there is a huge bush on one side of the road. For some reason people think it is a good idea to ride out from behind from the bush without slowing down or looking for people coming in the opposite direction. After noticing this the first day I decided to ride on the other side of road when I approach that intersection.
I have to say that despite the fact that accidents happen all the time, the people who ride bikes around Beijing have some sort of inate skill at carrying the strangest things on their bikes. I have seen numerous people balancing huge boxes on the back of their bike while riding through rush hour traffic. I saw one guy carrying a box of stuff the size of a small refrigerator. He had one hand on the handle bars and one hand on his box, all the while riding through the intersections as if it was nothing. He must have had a lot of courage.
I have some other stories about my friends almost getting run of the road, but I think you guys get the idea. People only seem to be concerned about themselves and no one else, even if it means it increases their chances of getting into an accident.
First off I don't think anyone in China understands the simple concepts of traffic. This includes which side of the road to ride on and, more specifically, how to avoid crashing into other and inanimate objects.
The campus of Tsinghua University has a few main roads on it. There is a main which goes in front of the building where my classes are. This road goes north south. There is a road which goes east west that intersects the north south road. I can ride my bike on this road and then take a left at the intersection to go to class, but I usually take a less used route which takes me behind my building. I thought this route would be safer since there a fewer people, but I have seen my fare share of accidents or near accidents. For example the other morning I saw a student ride his bike directly into a small cement divider. The problem was that in one part of the road there are 4 or 5 small concrete dividers to add some organization to an otherwise unorganized system. Whenever people ride through this area they have to choose which columns to ride between. I saw two students, only two students, riding in the opposite direction try and decide which route to take. What struck me as odd is that neither of the students decided to change their mind once they both realized they were headed for the same spot. One of the students did not stop at all, while the other took his feet of the pedals and did not break at all before running into the small cement pillar. It seems like in a place where people ride bikes so often people would be experts at avoiding collisions. However, it is quite the opposite.
On top of this inability to avoid collisions, I do not think people understand what a blind corner is. In just about the same place I described before there is a bend in the road. At the bend there is a huge bush on one side of the road. For some reason people think it is a good idea to ride out from behind from the bush without slowing down or looking for people coming in the opposite direction. After noticing this the first day I decided to ride on the other side of road when I approach that intersection.
I have to say that despite the fact that accidents happen all the time, the people who ride bikes around Beijing have some sort of inate skill at carrying the strangest things on their bikes. I have seen numerous people balancing huge boxes on the back of their bike while riding through rush hour traffic. I saw one guy carrying a box of stuff the size of a small refrigerator. He had one hand on the handle bars and one hand on his box, all the while riding through the intersections as if it was nothing. He must have had a lot of courage.
I have some other stories about my friends almost getting run of the road, but I think you guys get the idea. People only seem to be concerned about themselves and no one else, even if it means it increases their chances of getting into an accident.
posted by Jon Keto at
12:10 AM
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