Can I swap the rear view mirrors for a bigger horn.

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I have already noted the situation in relation to pedestrians in China but we have also experienced Chinese roads from within vehicles, i.e. taxis and buses. If you suffer from a nervous condition, a heart complaint, or are sensitive to loud noises I would not recommend using these forms of transport either.

Chinese drivers have taken a separate evolutionary path to drivers in Europe for example. In Europe, vision is the dominent means of assessing road conditions, checking situational awareness before making a manouvere etc. Like sighted animals stranded in dark environments, Chinese drivers seem to have abandoned the visual approach and come to rely on an acoustic approach i.e. they lean on their horn. They use their horn to let people know they are there, to tell people to get out of the way. They do not look behind them before they move into a space. If they hear no horn, they know that space is theirs for the thinking.

This may seem extreme but I am serious. I have looked at various drivers we have had and the majority rarely, or never, use their mirrors. My advice to any car company wishing to increase sales in China is that they give the option of replacing all mirrors with an extra loud horn.

A recent example may give you some idea of what it is like. We were coming back in a mini bus from a day trip. As our bus approached a town there seemed to be some sort of hold up. Our bus driver promptly drove up alongside the waiting cars till we got to the reason for the delay. A railway crossing where the barrier had been lowered. Our driver stopped and waited. As we waited other vehicles crept up past our vehicle. Eventually we had six lanes of traffic on our side of the barrier, waiting for it to open. Six lanes of traffic on a two lane road. The same faced us on the other side of the barrier. When the barrier lifted they all made for each other accompanied by large numbers of people, bikes etc. It was chaos. I could see oncoming drivers and none appeared to be looking at traffic ahead or behind them They just drove where they wanted to go. Blowing their horn when they were thwarted in their movement. Dodgem rides at the funfair appear better organised. At one point there was total standstill on the tracks themselves. I was keeping a sharp eye out for trains and had my hand on the exit door in case a speedy bail out was needed.

My theory is that China has jumped from a bicycle based transport to a car based system in a very short period of time. They were used to serenely driving from a side road unto a busy main road and been neatly slotted into the mass of cyclists on the main road. They still drive that way. It makes for an interesting experience but habits will have to change as more cars appear on the road.

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