To their definition of driving, they are better drivers than Australians (as in navigating through a sea of cars, people and bicycles). To our definition of driving (following road rules, etc..)... um... NO!
To live in China, with so many people around, you need to be aware of the people around you normally and that extends to the drivers. They are quite happy to weave and swing through traffic (knowing that people around are equally aware of them, each making way when nessecary). From personal experience that doesn't work when taken to an Australian environment (such as Sydney when I was living in multi-cultural campsie - Australian drivers think Chinese drivers are incredibly careless and Chinese drivers think Australian drivers are incredibly rude).
I'm actually more comfortable crossing a road in China than I would be in Australia - simply because I know the drivers will know I'm there and make way (though I've scared a few Australians I've been traveling with just waltzing across when they didn't think I was aware of one or two cars). Having said that, I'm trained in understanding people, so I pick up if someone is aware of me quite quickly (I can read the way the car drives from a distance away). If I tried the same stunt in Australia (not that I would), I'd quickly be sideswiped at least, if not put in hospital.
spacial awareness would imply that a person in a car would think twice about cutting front the right lane into the left, and cutting off a truck with metres to spare then breaking to take an off ramp, while said truck is going 100kms down the mitchell fwy. the cars breaking then causes the truck to break heavily and eventually flip and end up on the train line.
maybe there are too many open spaces for asian drivers here
I'd say that's the problem - in China if you leave a gap it's so someone can take it (the travel speeds tend to be slower too). We leave space for comfort, and safety - there if you want safety, travel slower there isn't enough space to go around, and they are (generally) used to the crowding, so the comfort thing isn't an issue for them. Oh, and they don't have many big trucks at all (and most of them are in poor enough repair they don't go so fast) so they probably don't have enough experience if they're new to consider that maybe something that's going 100km/h that weighs a few tons may have a different breaking pattern to their car (not to mension less response time than if things were moving slower). So it's less about space, more about velocity and momentum.
Theoretically (this is the chinese veiwpoint) the more cars you have packed in the space, and the faster they are traveling, the closer to capacity the road is being used, so they're doing everyone a favor because that's one less car everyone back in the queue is waiting for if they can squeese into a gap. If they weren't used to Australia (which because Australian drivers are "rude" to them, they'll sometimes resist doing) they'll actually think they're doing everyone a favor and being polite by helping the road run smoother.
Of course the flaw is that the more packed the cars are, the slower they need to travel so past a certain point it starts going backwards... Now how to teach them that....
Even on foot - Australians leave an arm's length normally - half that if things are "crowded". If you leave that much in a line in China (assuming you can get them to line up - lines are soo in-efficient when you don't have much space per person) you'll have someone cut in for sure.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-10-03 12:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-06 12:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-07 02:32 am (UTC)To live in China, with so many people around, you need to be aware of the people around you normally and that extends to the drivers. They are quite happy to weave and swing through traffic (knowing that people around are equally aware of them, each making way when nessecary). From personal experience that doesn't work when taken to an Australian environment (such as Sydney when I was living in multi-cultural campsie - Australian drivers think Chinese drivers are incredibly careless and Chinese drivers think Australian drivers are incredibly rude).
I'm actually more comfortable crossing a road in China than I would be in Australia - simply because I know the drivers will know I'm there and make way (though I've scared a few Australians I've been traveling with just waltzing across when they didn't think I was aware of one or two cars). Having said that, I'm trained in understanding people, so I pick up if someone is aware of me quite quickly (I can read the way the car drives from a distance away). If I tried the same stunt in Australia (not that I would), I'd quickly be sideswiped at least, if not put in hospital.
Long reply - good question ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-08 11:39 am (UTC)maybe there are too many open spaces for asian drivers here
no subject
Date: 2008-10-09 01:18 am (UTC)Theoretically (this is the chinese veiwpoint) the more cars you have packed in the space, and the faster they are traveling, the closer to capacity the road is being used, so they're doing everyone a favor because that's one less car everyone back in the queue is waiting for if they can squeese into a gap. If they weren't used to Australia (which because Australian drivers are "rude" to them, they'll sometimes resist doing) they'll actually think they're doing everyone a favor and being polite by helping the road run smoother.
Of course the flaw is that the more packed the cars are, the slower they need to travel so past a certain point it starts going backwards... Now how to teach them that....
Even on foot - Australians leave an arm's length normally - half that if things are "crowded". If you leave that much in a line in China (assuming you can get them to line up - lines are soo in-efficient when you don't have much space per person) you'll have someone cut in for sure.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-06 12:14 pm (UTC)