Massive car ownership and driving came to China very recently
and very fast. In their cars or not, people jostle for position. On the roads,
voluntary yielding only occurs after two drivers have engaged in what we would
call a “game of chicken”. Much honking
of horns comes first. Established customs rather than unevenly enforced traffic
laws rule the road; whoever manages to nose in first, goes on his/her way. I
have not seen data on how much (what we would call) “road rage” there is in
China. I suspect very little. But what you see among drivers (as well as
drivers vs. pedestrians) would surely lead to confrontations and even shootings
in the U.S.
Kudos, then, for Chinese culture and less so all for ours. I cannot
say much about China, but we may have a problem.
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