| A Tragic Death and Road Safety | |
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| Oct 6, 2007 07:54 |   |
 | Road Safety Who is teaching this generation of China’s children? In the wake of the tragic death of a young girl on the highway last night as she attempted to dash across a four lane highway in front of our bus, this question begs an answer! In Australia it begins first at home, then at school. Of course the National Road Safety Campaign does not eliminate the tragic deaths of young children but is certainly reduces the number incidence. |
| Oct 6, 2007 11:54 | #1 |
| Fiurst of all the government has to do something about the turn right on red which seems to be allowed. As I pedestrian I see a 'Green man' which in almost all countries of the world means pedestrians have right of way - but not in China. This is very dangerous, especially to foreigners ( I wonder how many deaths from this there will be in Beijing during the Olympics). Many pedestrians at traffic lights refuse to wait for the lights to change in their favour and in fact take terrible risks. But then I realised it makes little difference what the lights say because drivers blatantly ignore them. Outside my college there are traffic lights purely to enable pedestrians to cross safely but vehicles don't even slow down even when they are at red. Oh, and we have police stationed at the gate where this occurs. So I believe China needs a big rethink on safety. The current traffic rules are based on an era when there was little traffic. Drivers must learn that having a car is not a right but a privilege. pedestrians must learn the dangers and also act more responsibly. |
| Oct 6, 2007 19:15 | #2 |
| It is anarchy on the roads here in China. Maybe there are some rules somewhere; maybe there is even a printed list of them. Who knows? What I do know is that pedestrians have no rights whatsoever and this fact, combined with the overwhelming incompetence of the vast majority of drivers, makes getting out and about in your daily life a dangerous challenge. By incompetence I mean that, if you cannot park, drive in reverse, or otherwise control a car at less than 3 km/hr, you have no business whatsoever taking your 1000 kgs of steel out onto the roadways. Apault has suggested that current rules ( ? ) are based on an era when there was little traffic; I tend to think that such rules are actually based on the bicycle era ( not that bikes are uncommon now, just less so ). On a bike, it is energy consuming to come to a complete stop at any kind of intersection, so it was most efficient to just slow down a bit and turn into, or across, traffic. What is the worst that could happen? A "bicycle fender bender", or maybe some scrapped knees and elbows?. When this logic is applied to cars and trucks and buses, well....you can imagine the result. And it will only get worse as more and more people realize the dream of car ownership. |
| Oct 7, 2007 08:04 | #3 |
| Thank you gentlemen for your comments which also express my thoughts on this matter. I am appalled at the standard of not only driver training but legally licensed drivers who most probably could not command a bicycle safely let alone a car. I'm sorry to say that I personally know a couple of such individuals who have little or no concept of turning the vehicle, cannot reverse in tight conditions and have difficultly parking in most situations. I am constantly amused, but it is really not funny, at the way cars are parked both on and off the streets, or half in half. But worst of all is the arrogant impatience of the majority of drivers who honk their incredibly loud horns at everything whether moving or not, without reducing their speed. People just switch off, desensitized to the sound and totally ignore it but no one seems aware of this. The pedestrian public is by and large also unaware of the dangers they place themselves in when climbing over fences and walking in the middle of the street, jumping out of medium strips, etc. In rural areas, we've sped past children playing cards on the road!!! I despair that it is a little late for the older generations but the younger generations can be educated but it must begin now and with a strong push from the government, police and other law enforcement bodies setting an example. Unfortunately some of these are also the worst offenders on the roads. |
| Oct 7, 2007 15:45 | #4 |
| GUEST08112 | Hi, reference a tragic death of a person on a Chinese road and the teachings of road safety in China to help eliminate such incidents, it is a sad time for all involved I know, but it must be said that with One point Two Billion people in china and the amount of vehicles which are increasing by the day using the roads, it is unfortunate that many many more lives will be lost on Chinese roads as is True in every other Country. Unfortunately that is part of the human way of life. In the old days people would have fallen of horses or were Knocked down by carts.Thats the way life is unfortunately, my sincere condolences to all involved in this tragic accident. |
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