Gigantic traffic jam in China

[DGthe3]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapc...jam/index.html

Think you had a hellish commute this morning? Just be thankful you're not in China, where a traffic jam stretching more than 100 km (62 miles) has forced drivers to keep their feet planted on brake pedals for nine days. The gridlock, which started August 14, involves thousands of trucks between the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Chinese capital of Beijing, according to state media.


Fender-benders and broken-down vehicles are adding to the chaos, state media reported.


Some drivers played cards to pass the time, while others fumed about nearby vendors taking advantage of their predicament by gouging food prices.


continued

[KeepItGreasey]

damn asian drivers... it only takes one per lane to cause a traffic jam like this... jk, maybe...

i really don't see how they could not have planned this better and avoided the whole problem. i always see construction on the freeways, and at times the entire route is shut down. but we never have problems like this.

[topgun1]

i would have hoped they took their foot off the brake pedal after only a few minutes and put it in park! lol

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by KeepItGreasey

damn asian drivers... it only takes one per lane to cause a traffic jam like this... jk, maybe...

i really don't see how they could not have planned this better and avoided the whole problem. i always see construction on the freeways, and at times the entire route is shut down. but we never have problems like this.

They're buying more cars than the US, yet scrapping less of them. That leads to millions of cars getting added to the fleet each and every year. Its probably out pacing their ability to build more roads.

[franknbeans]

wow the Chinese language is annoying. Don't play the video.

[brandotron]

Originally Posted by franknbeans

wow the Chinese language is annoying. Don't play the video.

[All-Or-Nothing]

Originally Posted by topgun1

i would have hoped they took their foot off the brake pedal after only a few minutes and put it in park! lol

LMAO.......I was just imagining some guy whose legs were cramping up not knowing what to do.


I thought the traffic here in the Philippines was horrible. I really need to put my HD Pro on my hood and make a video of how bad they drive over here. Atleast in China they stay in their own lanes. Here a 3 lane road always turns into a 6 lane road. LOL.

[Berean]

They probably got confused trying to read those road signs.

[The_Blur]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

They're buying more cars than the US, yet scrapping less of them. That leads to millions of cars getting added to the fleet each and every year. Its probably out pacing their ability to build more roads.

Let's not forget that we've been building organized highway systems for almost a century. They've only recently industrialized and have not had the infrastructure that we have built for generations. As a consequence, they are quickly acquiring the technology we use everyday but have less convenience using it. In this case, they have cars and highways but no back roads or alternate routes to their destinations. Imagine knowing that your normal route to work is blocked and not having any other way to get there.

[BackinBlackSS/RS]

Originally Posted by The_Blur

Let's not forget that we've been building organized highway systems for almost a century. They've only recently industrialized and have not had the infrastructure that we have built for generations. As a consequence, they are quickly acquiring the technology we use everyday but have less convenience using it. In this case, they have cars and highways but no back roads or alternate routes to their destinations. Imagine knowing that your normal route to work is blocked and not having any other way to get there.

You know we are only 234 years old though. How old is China? Most of what we have done has been in the what the last 100 years. Pretty damn impressive.

[a_Username]

Originally Posted by BackinBlackSS/RS

You know we are only 234 years old though. How old is China? Most of what we have done has been in the what the last 100 years. Pretty damn impressive.

China is a war-torn society making it hard to know when China ended and begun. The China we know now has only existed for ~50 years...

[BackinBlackSS/RS]

Originally Posted by a_Username

China is a war-torn society making it hard to know when China ended and begun. The China we know now has only existed for ~50 years...

Maybe, but they have been around for a VERY long time. Not our fault they only started to figure it out 50 years ago which coincidently was when our industrialization was kicking ass.

[a_Username]

Originally Posted by BackinBlackSS/RS

Maybe, but they have been around for a VERY long time. Not our fault they only started to figure it out 50 years ago which coincidently was when our industrialization was kicking ass.

In the late 70s, after they finally realized the failed communist economic policies that haunted their society, they embraced market-based reform which categorized itself as a mixed economy. Ever since then they've become one of the fastest growing economies and are second only the U.S/Japan; however, the gap is still very large in terms of GDP and PPP.