As in many countries throughout the world, traffic in Beijing is something very different than what I am used to in the USA. Calling it chaotic, dangerous, or lawless, though at least true on the surface, is missing the point. As I've been walking around the neighborhood and dealing with street crossings myself I've been trying to determine the governing principles for how traffic works here. I haven't come up with anything definitive but here's what I have seen.
Despite some of the other moving "violations", cars and buses follow the traffic lights pretty well, actually. In fact, the more I think about it, I would say they do just as good as many in Wichita which is to say that there are plenty of people running reds as the light is changing, some getting an early start, and many switching lanes in the intersection. Out on the freeway, though, the similarities dissappear quickly. Blinkers are optional (though I have seen a fair number using them, much to my surprise) and weaving through traffic at high speeds is the norm. There is not such thing as following distance and I haven't seen anybody moderating their speed for legal reasons. I have seen several police cars out on the road but I have never seen anybody being pulled over for traffic violations. Though I don't know any Beijing traffic laws, I'm guessing the situation is similar to how such matters work in the US: the written law aside, in practice the police prosecute only the gross offenders. Again, just a guess.
The much more interesting and puzzling role in traffic goes to the two-wheeled vehicles and pedestrians. There are a lot of bicycles in Beijing; not as many as I would have guessed but still way more than in any US city I have visited or even heard about. At the subway station there is a covered parking area that can hold several hundred bikes. In front of the apartment building there is a bike rack with at least another hundred parked. Bicycles are used in virtually everyway a car would be in the US. I've seen bicycles (well, tricycles technically) with large trailers hauling goods, bikes with a seat on the back for a second passenger to ride side-saddle, bikes with a street vendors cooking grill, fuel, and ingredients ready to go.
Also of GREAT interest to me are battery-powered bikes that are relatively common here. They travel fairly quickly (more quickly than most of the recreation-speed pedalers out on the road, at least), run silently and don't require any pedaling. I have desired such a bicycle of my own back home and have looked into the few brands and conversion kits that exist in the US. If it wouldn't be so expensive to ship back, I would buy one here. My guess is that one in 15 bicycles here in Beijing is battery-powered.
Lastly, there are very few scooters or motorcycles. When I visited Taiwain about a decade ago, they were the predominant form of street transportation. I don't know exactly why, but they aren't very popular up here. I would say that one in every 40 two-wheeled vehicle is a gas-powered scooter or motorcycle. Most are on the smaller side (maybe not even 50cc) though I have seen larger scooters like my own and even one full-fledged sport bike. I asked my hosts about this and their guess was the weather made travelling at high speeds in the cold air too chilling for most people.
Anyway, back to traffic. Though cars more or less follow the traffic signals, bicycles and pedestrians categorically do not. Due to the large intersections, there are actually separate lights for the pedestrians and bicycles but both are essentially ignored. Bicycles in particular seem to do whatever they please. They will move through the intersectionin whatever manner they feel is most expediant and won't hesitate to change directions, move diagonally through multiple lanes, or pool in an island in the middle of the intersection waiting for an opening. They are the true lawless on the road, most never moving more than a fast jog yet permeating the traffic of cars and buses and moving in their own way.
The pedestrians, though equally independent of the law, have a much simplier behavior: they cross the street whenever and wherever they feel like it. Pedestrians collect at the corners and once a large enough group has assembled and an opening presents itself, the group will move. The crossing can take place roughly when the signals indicate but not necessarily so. If a group has collected at a corner and a self-appointed leader begins crossing, more often than not the group will move with him or her, regardless of the traffic; there is safety in numbers. Sometimes there will be defectors who decides the "leader" has made a bad choice and will themselves wait for a better opportunity and/or another pack to cross with. There are often lone-wolf pedestrians who seem not to care for life and limb and will step out into traffic given even the slightest opening. The long and short of it is that there is nearly a steady stream of pedestrians flowing through the intersections most of the time.
Given all of this, there are two obvious questions: how is every intersection not a tangled mess all the time and how are traffic accidents not horribly common? Though I haven't reached any conlcusions I feel highly confident in, it is clear that traffic here is much more of a negotiation than a matter of law. Sometimes the bus yields to the pedestrians, sometimes the pedestrians scatter to make way for the bus. If the way seems clear, the bicycles may start and if left-turning traffic shows up in front of them, they may stop or they may work their way through it and force the cars to yield. The mystery to me is how the negotiation is communicated, how the deal is struck and who has the upper-hand at any given time. It is clear by the lack of serious accidents (I haven't seen any collisions other than pedestrains bumping into each other) that the system works fairly well, but for an outsider like me, the workings of the system are non-obvious. In fact, it is probably more dangerous for me simply because I can't communicate appropriately during these traffic negotiations.
Though all of these may seem to inefficient or unsafe I could not easily say that this is the case. It seems to work well for them and not having to wait your turn at intersections (for bicycles and pedestrians at least) IS more efficient. I guess the BIG sacrifice made is that of corporate responsiblity. In a very real sense, any problems you may have out on the road are nobody's fault but your own. There is no real assignment of blame if something goes wrong, no legitmate cries that the other party broke the rules. At the end of the day, you are the sole party responsible for getting where you need to go safely.
All that said, I still think I like law-based traffic better. At least until I figure out how to make things work for me here and each street-crossing isn't and adventure.
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