Motorcycles in Dongguan
Today is the last first day of a month that motorcycles can legally ride the streets of Dongguan. Come September 1 they are banned. It wasn’t a good start for at least one rider.
There were two major wrecks along the way to work this morning. At least we stayed out of harm’s way. One truck had plowed into a light pole with major damage. In the other, a motorcycle was under the wheel of another truck in a more serious accident. I’m not sure how the driver fared, but id didn’t look good.
September 1 all motorcycles, and even the e-bikes – those pedal and stored energy types – will be banned from the highways here. That should cut down on these accidents. And the way they drive – carefree and reckless – I won’t miss them.
I wonder what all the motorcycle taxi drivers will do. Did you know that you pretty much barter the fare on those rides? And they can often cost more than an regular taxi! Because in congested traffic, they can scoot through and get you to a location quicker. Just not necessarily safer.
The motorcycle taxi drivers do wear helmets. Seldom do you see anyone else wear a helmet. But, by the way, passengers on a motorcycle taxi never get a helmet. I just can’t quite imagine jumping on a motorcycle with a half crazy driver wearing a helmet, when I would not be given one!
And speaking of accidents, I came very close to being in one this past Saturday. Coming home from work, I was almost asleep in the car, when my driver came to a rather abrupt stop at one traffic light. It startled me a little and I looked up to see that we were at a stop light. Not a big surprise there. But then……….
I heard something squeal to our left. Looking past my driver, I saw a large transfer truck was braking and bouncing rather hard on an angle to our side. As I looked back out the rear of our car, I could see that his long flat-bed was in our lane! And he was practically at an angle over our car!! He must have not expected us to stop and probably wasn’t planning to stop himself. When we stopped, it took all his power to use the lane to the left of us to stop and just avoid us only because he was over us!
At least we were lucky on this one! All in a day’s fun of riding the roads of Dongguan!
Labels: China, China roads, Dongguan
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 6:27 PM
Comments: 0
