yeah, you know I never really believed the whole "asian driver" stereotype until I moved to SF 5 years ago, and now boy do I got stories

But after living the last 2 years in Northbeach right next to chinatown and having to walk through there regularly I realized something fascinating, they walk exactly like they drive!

First thing I noticed was everyone here didnt have any "walking rhythm". That is to say that when you see someone walking toward you the other way you each typically subconsciously pick a side to walk around each other on, or if you know someone is walking behind you on the sidewalk you tend to pull to one side or the other. Whenever I walk in Chinatown it seems like they are all in their own world, they will walk right into you even when theyre looking your direction, they will stop dead in their tracks on a busy sidewalk and make you almost walk into them, and when they come out of a store they dont look left or right, they just come busting right out onto the sidewalk bouncing off of each other, just like the people in the video go full speed through what they know is an intersection!

It comes down to this, no Situational Awareness. They have complete tunnel vision on what they are doing and totally unaware of their immediate environment. And sorry guys, I honestly didnt start this as a racist rant, because its definitely not genetic, like Huck says its cultural. I know plenty of Chinese guys that are great drivers, many on this forum, but they are culturally American, this situational awareness thing is specifically a culturally Chinese problem, the ones that have been in America 20+ years and havent cared to learn a word of english.

I seriously do want to know what it is about Chinese culture over there that instills this attitude, Ive heard the schools over there suck all the creativity and critical thinking out of kids and just train them to be automatons, maybe?

Seriously, WTF??

 

yeah thats the one I was mentioning (I marked the time wrong in the first post)

This right here, they look at each other for a good 40 feet and still run into each other. The guy on the bicycle, at that speed he should have been able to just hit the brakes, stick his feet down and STOP on the spot!

 

Korea has some crazy drivers.

 

Best part at 2:02 followed up right after with the red trolley.
How the f*** do you manage to hit someone who you can clearly see standing there. Oh ya nevermind....Hahaha

 

In all fairness, whytf was that guy standing in the middle of the street. There's no audio. The guy in the car could have been honking.

 

Lol at the car in the very end that goes straight and slams into the building

Reminds me of the Traffic Rush game for ipod touch..

 

True, but its just funny how instead of trying to go around him he decided, I'll just take his legs out

 

Exactly, that guys just as at fault, hes just standing there in the middle of the street with his back to a busy intersection! Its that situational awareness thing

 

lol they should open up a body shop on one corner of that street and a doctors office on the other side.

 

I agree with Huck and Jammy-chan that it's a cultural thing, but it goes beyond a lack of drivers' training or situational awareness. It's more of a "I don't a ****" attitude that lots of Mainland Chinese people have -- it's not just driving or walking, it's EVERYTHING -- like the waiter jamming his thumb into your food when he slams the plate on the table in front of you, like the grocery cashier tossing your cans of condensed milk on top of your eggplants in the same bag, like the old 4'9" lady that tries to shove you out of the way on the bus instead of a saying excuse me (she knows she could say it to me in Chinese and I'd understand it, but she'd rather try to shove all 6'2", 210 lbs of me instead), like the douche that smokes JUST outside the restaurant door so that all his smoke blows inside, like the numb nuts that sits sideways in his chair at the restaurant and stares at you the WHOLE ****ING MEAL, like the asswipe that rests his foot on YOUR chair and shakes his leg like he's having a seizure... I could go on and on.

And you know that the cause is? The destruction of the humanity, history, Confucian values, and rich Chinese culture due the so-called "Cultural Revolution" of that filthy worm Mao Zedong, the most shameful person to EVER come of the 5,000 years of the existence of the Chinese people. **** that MOTHER****ER Mao Zedong.

 

yeah, you're right 100%. Like you really can see it if you compare China vs. Singapore and Taiwan.

Singapore and Taiwan are both 100% Chinese, filled with Chinese people who escaped before the revolution, see how different those places are.


For one, they drive good - people in Taiwan definitely drive better than people in America. They got all kinds of crazy traffic and I've seen few accidents and some real skills. It is really hard to get a license in Taiwan and you have to pass a crapload of exams with high scores - none of this "miss 14 points and you can still pass" like we have at the DMV here. M'kay? Sorry white people, that's the truth!

 

LOL @ 2:05, man I wish I could do that sometimes here.

 

Crazy or stupid?

 

I spent two months living in China a few years ago. My dad and I traveled through Hong Kong, Macau, and then the southern provinces on foot and by public transport. Eventually we came to the town of Dali and the buddhist kung fu monastery in the hills there where we spent the rest of our time.

EVERY SINGLE THING ChokuDori mentioned happened to me at one point during my trip.

I also got served "best beef eyeball soup for you!" against my will.

When we were at the train station and there were 50 rows of chairs for 25 terminals (of which only one terminal was operational on the weekend we were there) we saw nearly 500 people pack themselves into the 2 rows meant for maybe 50 people each directly in front of the terminal door that was working that day. Not a single person went to sit ONE row over where there were plenty of seats and room to stretch.

When I caught a street kid trying to steal my wallet I grabbed it out of his hands and raised my arm as if I was going to hit him in the head. He just stared at my fist. No reaction to hide or cover his face or run away. Just stood there and stared at my fist and waited for it to hit him. I meant to just scare him away but his reaction baffled me.

After everything I have seen and experienced I think that the Chinese have just lost their survival instincts. Even more so in the cities than in rural areas. No one is capable or willing to think for themselves.


Compare these Chinese people getting into accidents to the average European rally fan. They manage to stand directly in the way of a car flying through a forest at 100mph+ and not get hit on a regular basis!

 

I think you meant to say "Sorry American people..." as my wife is white, but she took a few years and several thousand dollars to pass her license which included ice driving class and how to properly execute a handbrake turn. Swedes are white too though I guess they could also be called Scandanavian or European. I am bad at categorization.

Either way while our driver's training and licensing programs are just about worthless, it's only a problem when the people cannot drive. Usually when I am cruising down a back road at or around the speed limit and I happen upon someone who feels the need to drive half the speed limit in the corners, once I pass them I peek at them just to adjust my demographic of bad drivers. It's interesting to see who's behind the wheel in these cases.

Most of the time when I am driving up/down hwy1 or 92 or 84 to get to/from home, the people that are driving half the speed limit while swerving into oncoming traffic on blind turns are either really old, or.... Obviously not Swedish.