Beijing Traffic Chaos

23.9.2008 von Ines.

I did not expect it to be this bad. Beijing had a special rule since July that on an even date on cars that had a number plate ending with an even number were allowed to drive and on odd dates only the odd numbers. Also trucks and big vehicles were also not allowed to drive within the 5th ring road. But those restrictions were only valid till September 20th 2008. Now we are back to normal.

Are we really? Has it always been this bad? Between 5pm and 7:30pm cars seem to not move on one of the huge East-West roads I have been cycling on yesterday and today. The road looks like a 6 lane wide 10km long parking lot crammed with cars. Good that there is a special bus lane for the rush hour which the bicyclists can also use. We were all speeding by the jammed cars. That is fun. Well, for me as I am a bicyclist. For the car drivers it seemed to be annoying as I have seen the craziest driving techniques I had long forgotten about (In my memory the driving style was getting more civilized in the past 12 months. But it seems the drivers have forgotten about that.). I have seen cars pull out into the opposite side of the street driving against that traffic on the fast lane and then cutting across 3 lanes of cars going in the same direction to make a right turn. And almost hitting the bicyclists.

Maybe there are just more cars in Beijing than 3 months ago. According to the statistics that should be 90000 more cars which could contribute to the difference. Or maybe people had been encouraged to use their cars during the period of the restrictions as there were not so many traffic jams.

Not just the non car owning population is unhappy. There even voices that suggest Beijing to continue with the driving restrictions. I think that would be a great idea! Even a Chinese friend of mine pointed out that the restrictions helped him start bicycling again. That resulted in weight loss. And he now even thinks it does not make sense to own a car in Beijing. I hope others start thinking the same!

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