What's Normal? #2

Much like the Tonka truck demonstration of the previous post, the driving in China is something that becomes normal after some time in the country.

Normal #2: Driving cars like bicycles

We read a recent magazine article that said the reason the driving in China is like it is stems from the fact that China moved quickly from bicycles to cars and many people drive their car like they would a bicycle. This involves changing lanes quickly, narrowly missing other cars, lanes as merely guidelines, and others. The motorcycles here in China often are treated like bikes or even pedestrians. Often times motorcycles ignore the street lights or even drive on sidewalks honking at pedestrians walking where they belong because obviously a motorcycle has the right-of-way on the sidewalk too.

But you do get used to the cars, motorcycles, bikes, pedestrians, horse drawn carts, buses, taxies, trucks, and all other means of transportation on the road. In "China Road" by Rob Gifford, the means of transportation is compared to a food chain with the pedestrians on the bottom rising all the way to the top of the heap with the driver of a 2009 BMW 5 series or Land Rover.