I saw a remarkable thing as I set out for work this morning.
A driver making a right turn into a side road actually stopped, gave way to let another car turn in ahead of him.
Now, it is - in my wretched experience of observing and suffering Beijing road users - very unusual for a driver to yield to anyone else under any circumstances at all. In fact, it's pretty damned amazing to find a driver even paying attention to another road user.
But the thing I found really odd about this little incident was this: the other car was turning left; the car that waited to let him through actually had priority.
I can only assume that the (rare) duly alert and cautious Beijing-ren accords priority to another vehicle based on the presumed status of the driver rather than the rules of the road. The guy making the left turn off the main road did have a very large, brand-spanking-new car (not a black Audi, though - so he was not obviously one of the super-scary 'connected' motherf***ers), whereas the surprisingly polite and deferential motorist was driving something much more modest - and thus, I imagine, didn't fancy running the risk of a fender-scrape with the other guy. What else can it have been?
Ah, the streets of Beijing - there's always something stimulating (baffling, infuriating) going on. After all these years here, living anywhere else would surely seem insufferably DULL.
2 comments:
Almost -- ALMOST -- gives one hope, eh? Too bad there's not some Uniform of the Connected Motherf**ers which pedestrians (even ex-pats on foot) can wear.
Well, the 'uniform' is essentially the black Audi. The Connected Motherf***ers are seldom seen on foot - other than moving from the door of the black Audi to the door of the expensive restaurant/nightclub/brothel/whatever.
Flat-top haircut and expensive shades and polo shirts are usually part of the profile too. But nobody else would really want to look like that. You probably wouldn't be able to swing the 'privileges' that go with it unless you had the obscene wealth and the widespread recognition from other Motherf***ers; and the hatred you receive from everyone else should be a strong disincentive.
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