Hard to believe what I just saw on the highway while driving home tonight. There had been a small accident on the right lane of Yan’an Lu (a 6-lane elevated expressway) in the direction of Hongqiao airport. Three cars hit each other, but there were just some scratches and some glass on the ground from the headlights of the middle car. Nothing special, but of course traffic slowed down quickly and when we were close to the accident I heard the siren of an approaching police car. It sounded very close by, but I did not see it anywhere behind our car.
Suddenly I noticed it was on the opposite side of the highway, where it had stopped in the fast lane, the lane closest to our side of the highway. Traffic was speeding around it and I hoped no accident would occur because you don’t expect a parked car in the fast lane (although on China’s roads you should expect anything). Right at the moment I looked at the police car I saw a cop get out of it, jump over the divider between the two sides of the road onto the fast lane of our road, and swerve through the cars that had just started to accelerate again… The police guy seemed oblivious to the risk of either parking his car in the fast lane in the dark or of running through traffic oncoming traffic. He made it safely, but I couldn’t believe my eyes. Crazy…
Is there a photo blog that shows drivers in China using sidewalks, whether crowded or not, driving on the wrong side of divided highways, proceeding at speed through swarms of pedestrians, swerving around oncoming cars, and committing other antisocial acts? These are such common activities that thousands of wonderful photos must exist.