Behind the wheel in Beijing: trying to stay zen
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In my pre-Zen-driving days a lot of things got my gall: overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic, using the service lane as the passing lane, driving through red lights, blocking traffic by turning left as soon as the light turns green.
Those inconsiderate acts would get my temper roiling but they are minor infringements compared to excessive speeding. The criminal use of speed used to make me want to come out swinging.
It's hard to imagine how China's driving culture evolved from the bicycle commute of 20 years ago. The riders of two wheelers seemed to have a mosey-along, we'll-get-there-when-we-get-there attitude. Now that we're all behind the wheel, and behind closed steel doors, there's a rude and needless rush to get the next unavailable space on the road.
Tinkering around with driving restrictions to reduce traffic jams might shorten the rush-hour crawl to the suburbs by a few minutes but changing bad driving behavior would do a lot more to improve the flow and save lives.
Driving habits can be changed. It's happened in many Western countries where traffic accidents and fatalities have dropped dramatically over the last 30 years. What's missing in China are two things: education and enforcement.
Education in the form of shock therapy that features gory pictures and crashes is a turn-off and misses the root causes. The best Western driver-safety campaigns showed the hypocrisy of parents telling children to get along with other kids, and then turning into lunatic drivers once behind the wheel.
The news media and insurance companies played a big role in raising consciousness by reporting statistics showing how bad behavior causes accidents. This kind of bad-news reporting produced good side effects by linking consequences to actions.
The key, however, is enforcement. The first time I approached a Beijing police car at speed, my heart skipped a few beats, until a black Audi raced past both me and the cop car!
Come to think of it, I have never seen a driver pulled over for speeding, or running a red light, or passing dangerously.
A Western traffic cop would have writer's cramp if she were let loose on Beijing drivers - too many tickets to issue.
Nowadays when I see Beijing drivers misbehaving I try to squash the angst and hum a mantra instead...unless I spy a perfect opening up ahead.
The author is the founder of R.D. Communications. billsiggins@ realdogcomm.cn
