01.26.07
Driving Habits
OK, I am chuckling to myself as I write this because I think that most people think that they are a good driver - myself included - regardless of their actual skill. I mean, it is cross cultural. However, in my estimation, I have found that the Taiwanese taxi drivers are the best I’ve come across. I have heard good things about India, but I’ve never been, so can’t say. Please don’t take offense at the broad generalizations I’ve made below.
In the states, we think we are good drivers, but in reality, I think it has more to do with our ability to follow the rules. And, as long as everyone else does a good job at following the rules, no-one gets hurt. One interesting thing that I have noticed is that in Minnesota and Boston, it is pretty much every man for themselves when merging onto a freeway, while in Seattle and Texas, folks kind of pleasantly let you in.
In Taiwan, the primary times a driver follows the rules are when the driver is a foreigner or when the intersection has a camera. Otherwise, it is pretty much game on. The only rule is “Don’t hit someone else… but if you do, make sure to go on the offensive to place the blame on them.” None-the-less, I’ve been impressed with how few accidents I’ve seen. The coolest things that I can comment on about Taiwanese driving habits are their ability to avert near certain disaster in kind of a ripple effect, and the array of mirrors in taxis due to the propensity of taxi drivers to chew betel nut and subsequently use the mirrors to aid in picking their teeth clean.
In China, it is kind of like a mix of Taiwan and the states. It seems like folks expect everyone else to follow the rules, but don’t themselves. Or maybe it is that when the all-to-frequent rule breaking occurs, the experience level of surrounding drivers are ill-equiped to compensate.
For example, today I was travelling on the expressway between ZhongShan and Shenzhen via hired van. We were travelling in the fast lane (furthest to the left) when we went sailing by the exit we should have taken. As soon as the driver realized it, he slammed on the brakes and asserted his right turn signal. He then proceeded to attempt a 90 degree right hand turn across two lanes of 50mph traffic. Before he could complete his manuever, a car in back of us came screeching to halt less than meter from the back bumper. Within five seconds, the car behind that car slammed into his bumper. As it dawned on the fellow behind us that we were the cause of the problem, he became visibly agitated and began struggling with his seatbelt to exit the car to accost our vehicle. When he got about to my window, our driver had the sense to abort the right hand turn mission and to exit stage straight-ahead.
I guess the other thing I’ve noticed about drivers in China (including some taxi drivers) is what I call the “pulsating foot syndrome” - the tendency to kind of pump the gas pedal. Kind of like a pulse width modulation using the inertia of the car as capacitance to create a resultant speed somewhat less than the maximum potential and somewhat more than the minimum. If you’re not prepared for it, it can kind of get your heart racing for the first few minutes of the journey.
Anyways - I’d love to hear some comments about other driving habits in other parts of the world.
chris said,
February 8, 2007 at 7:59 am
Dude, this had me rolling. So far the driving in Budapest seems straight forward. An interesting thing here, is that the vehicles get a “get-set” yellow light transition from red, right before it turns green. So if you’re a pedestrian, get out of the cross walk.