Driving In Asia

[dibbers006]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 18 December 2023 at 10:17

[bob1179]

Reminds me of driving in Russia.

Every journey seemed to involve at least one near death experience.

[versus]

wow. just wow.

was watching Top Gear in India a couple of days ago and that was madness. people think these new asian countries are amazing powerhouse countries, but when the infrastructure is like that it just reminds me of how backwards they are.

[CBR JGWRR]

How do people drive like this?

[versus]

i cant stop laughing. this is the best christmas tv yet.

[Panda76]

Did a lot of driving in Hong Kong some years back and it is madness.Any lane is game and if you want to get over to exit a Motorway it was nion impossible as every one undercut anyway.
Indicators meant nothing,you just had to move and persuade people to let you off.

[ash5]

scooter at 4:38

[anonymous-user]

In more than half of those accidents, I have absolutely no idea what the "guilty party" was trying to do?

Like the motorcyclist who looks round, sees the car tanking up the outside of him, pulls out infront of it then brakes.

ETA - Hardly any of them seem to apply the brake either. Not only when a crash has become inevitable, even after they have crashed.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 30th December 14:14

[AJS-]

Living in Thailand there's nothing much there that surprises me. You do just wonder what they hell they are thinking sometimes.

[chryslerben]

AJS- said:

Living in Thailand there's nothing much there that surprises me. You do just wonder what they hell they are thinking sometimes.

Haha drove from north to south over there a few years back and its certainly entertaining especially the nearer to Bangkok you get

[soad]

Insane

[AJS-]

chryslerben said:

Haha drove from north to south over there a few years back and its certainly entertaining especially the nearer to Bangkok you get

Yep, it's a bit off the chain. Drove up from Bangkok to the north east yesterday, the traffic is crazy new years weekend, and the police have apparently started leaving smashed cars outside their police boxes to discourage dangerous driving. It doesn't really work. Some awful smashes though, I wouldn't be surprised if new years weekend has a higher road death toll than the whole year in the UK.

[R182]

It's like walking in a crowded market, except everybody is using motorised transportation. I never want to deal with transportation in China again.

[uk_vette]

R182 said:

It's like walking in a crowded market, except everybody is using motorised transportation. I never want to deal with transportation in China again.

.
Having lived here in China for just over 2 years, I feel I am reasonably qualified to pass judement on the state of the traffic.
In China's bigger cities, there is a whole lot of eBikes, and motorbikes, and surprisingly, very few accidents.
I can feel quite at home, shooting in and out of the thousands of other 2 wheel machines all around me.
Then we went to Hanoi, it was more hectic, but not really frightening.
There is a way of riding, like it or not, and you have to ride the way they anticipate you will ride.
if you try to ride the European way, you will run all sorts of risks of collission.
After Hanoi we were in Saigon for a week,( we rode from Hanoi to Saigon, 2000km) after riding in and around Hanoi, I thought Hanoi must really be "top level" riding.
In Saigon, they don't have the 1000% urgency to get from A to B as they do in Hanoi. Sure there are hundreds of moving motorbikes on the pavements, but that is accepted in Vietnam.
Saigon is in a strange way, easier to ride than Hanoi.
If you need the feel for a serious inrush of adrenalin, then hire a motorbike in Hanoi, and feel the rush, and you skim past, and be brushed by other riders.
Many times, intersections are a free for all, with just 2 - 3 inches "missing distances"
China is an easy place to ride.

vette

[frosted]

Is it because they can't see over the steering wheel ?

[chryslerben]

frosted said:

Is it because they can't see over the steering wheel ?

[chilled901]

versus said:

wow. just wow.

was watching Top Gear in India a couple of days ago and that was madness. people think these new asian countries are amazing powerhouse countries, but when the infrastructure is like that it just reminds me of how backwards they are.

I saw a 1 hr scripted TV special. I am an expert on all things India as well!!!!

[jas xjr]

chilled901 said:

I saw a 1 hr scripted TV special. I am an expert on all things India as well!!!!

It is pretty bad in India. The roads are pretty good but the the quality of the drivers is massive eye opener. You still get horse and cart which ends up sharing road space with lambourghinis and everything in between. When there is a collision there is a lot of fighting. I have driven there a fair bit but it's always lovely to come back here

[chilled901]

jas xjr said:

It is pretty bad in India. The roads are pretty good but the the quality of the drivers is massive eye opener. You still get horse and cart which ends up sharing road space with lambourghinis and everything in between. When there is a collision there is a lot of fighting. I have driven there a fair bit but it's always lovely to come back here

I only lived there for 2 decades.

[smn159]

chilled901 said:

I saw a 1 hr scripted TV special. I am an expert on all things India as well!!!!

well having recently returned from a business trip to India, I would say that the driving shown on top gear was a pretty fair representation of what I saw while commuting from new Delhi to Noida each day!