|
|
china's interesting traffic culture... (click to read)
China’s Interesting Traffic Culture 中国的很有意思的交通文化.
•How it differs from the United States.
•What we can learn from it. The car is becoming very popular in 中国 china with prosperity.
•In 2016 China had 28 Million car sales.
•The USA had 17.5 Million.
•China’s roads are filling up fast, and parking is lacking, congestion worsening
•How it differs from the United States.
•What we can learn from it. The car is becoming very popular in 中国 china with prosperity.
•In 2016 China had 28 Million car sales.
•The USA had 17.5 Million.
•China’s roads are filling up fast, and parking is lacking, congestion worsening
SUBWAY TRANSFER
|
|
CAR ownership stats, usa vs china... (CLICK TO READ)
|
In 重庆 chongqing, 2013, CHONGQING Private car ownership was only 9% of population, BEIJING ownership was 21%.
USA ownership: 95% of households own a car. |
|
auto congestion solutions usa vs china... (CLICK TO READ)
|
Auto congestion solutions: USA •ADD CAPACITY, INFRASTRUCTURE
•Labor cost is high, less gets built, and approvals can take a decade through community involvement. •ENCOURAGE ALTERNATIVE MODES. •Depends on true opportunity. •ROAD DIETS. •Take away capacity for cars. •BUILD MORE CAR POOL LANES. •the more effective an HOV lane is, the less effective it is. CHINA: •ADD CAPACITY, HUGE INFRASTRUCTURE •Labor cost is much less, more gets built very fast. Approvals are fairly immediate.. •LICENSE PLATE LOTTERIES. •EXTREMELY HIGH LICENSE PLATE COSTS STARTING AT $15,000 USD in 1st Tier Cities. •ODD DAY DRIVING MANDATES (ie Beijing). •Rich buy a second car to be able to drive on even days too (workarounds). •VIDEO SURVEILANCE CAMERAS to ENFORCE SPEEDS and SIGNAL COMPLIANCE, and if you drive on the right day or not. |
|
Empty Subway （地铁没有人） |
Very Crowded Subway. (Line 3, Sunday night circa 2013左右, 重庆市) |
Roundabouts in China are not the same as Roundabouts in the USA. 中国比美国不一样
No Yielding at entry...Signals sometimes used at entries... No deflection on entry, etc.
|
•Yield on entry depends on who got there first, whether in or out of the circle.
•Yield is not specifically spelled out with signage or pavement markings. •Does increase capacity of local intersection and reduces queues. •Safety is compromised for bikes and peds... 
|
Roundabouts in China have no yield on entry. Many roundabouts have signals to control entry flows into a roundabout. Roundabouts in China are notoriously large in diameter, 2 to 3 times larger than in the USA. Deflection is not employed on entries into Roundabouts. |
Video Documentary: Navigating a large 500' diam. Roundabout in China, on an electric Scooter 骑电动车的时候 (circa Aug 2015, Fuxin 在阜新市, Liaoning 辽宁省Province, China)
Zhong hua lu 中华路 roundabout. diameter = 500’ . 5 vehicle lanes, 1 bike lane. X-WALKS on 4 of 5 approaches
Modern Roundabouts Require Cooperation to FunctionA huge difference in the way roundabout operate in the USA versus in China is that in the USA there is a cooperation between drivers based on a YIELD ON ENTRY rule, where drivers entering a roundabout actually wait for a gap in traffic, and not the other way around. The drivers inside the circle already do NOT stop for other drivers coming in, they don't slow down, they don't give way... the expectation is that drivers inside the roundabout already need to be able to get out easily, or else the whole roundabout is gridlocked. Once a driver stops inside the roundabout, it will gridlock for all movements. The MAIN LANE in the roundabout that just always be free-flowing, is the circle lane(s). In China, drivers entering the roundabouts sail in and even cut off drivers already inside the circle, and they also exit the roundabout from the innermost lane making a sweeping cut-off maneuver to other drivers in the roundabout, causing them to slow or stop to avoid an accident. This is a capacity defeating behavior. |
Typical small Roundabout in Fresno, CA, Feb 2018Yield on entry is well established. 10 years ago this was not the case as many cars did not yield on entry |
|
|
What does "Complete Streets" look like in china? (very different from typical USA)
CALTRANS： “A complete street is a transportation facility that is planned, designed, operated, and maintained to provide safe mobility for all users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit vehicles, truckers, and motorists, appropriate to the function and context of the facility. Every complete street looks different, according to its context, community preferences, the types of road users, and their needs.”
Complete streets, CHINA Style 中国风格 (HIGH density) Jan. 2018, 重情观音桥
By separating the various modes of traffic as shown in this video, the safety is improved. PEDS cross the street on a high bridge with escalator access. THRU vehicles pass under a major pedestrian block in a sunken tunnel to avoid conflict with thousands of pedestrians. Subway stations interface with the pedestrian areas which are flanked by skyscrapers of stores and businesses. Buses, taxis, trucks, and passenger cars share massive nine-lane roadways that carry as much traffic as a freeway, but are signal controlled at grade with other intersections. Capacity is nearly saturated. Stop and go conditions exist in some areas. Bikes are not accommodated in this case, but must share the same space as pedestrians (not practical to incorporate bike facilities in this case)
|
What does Complete Streets look like in china?
• PED BRIDGES • VEHICLE BRIDGE / OVERPASS • GRADE SEPARATION OF MODES • TUNNELS • GUARDRAILS • FENCES • SIDEWALKS Grant Johnson visited CHINA (Chongqing) in Jan 2018 and observed traffic conditions of numerous facilities, and compared the traffic situation to American traffic. In China, only 10% of the population in Chongqing actually own a vehicle. All others ride transit or taxi, or walk. This video is at GuanYinQiao 观音桥, a pedestrian center
|
|
PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE UTILIZATION, even if you build it with an ESCALATOR they still might J-WALK
|
|
I asked the police officer if I could cross when the vehicles had a green light and he hurriedly told me "Go! Go!" when I asked him if it as alright if I crossed at that time. It did not matter what the vehicle signals said, you could cross at any time, at your own risk. There did not appear to be any pedestrian right of way. And as can be seen in the video, most drivers of cars do not assert their right of way in a dangerous way to these pedestrians. There is a give and take in the traffic culture, where right of way is less emphasized.
|
Even when a nice spacious bridge equipped with escalator is provided to cross this very busy four lane road, in this video it can be seen that many people opt to jaywalk at the intersection corners instead, taking their chances with traffic at-grade even without a marked cross walk. They do this with the acceptance of four police officers, one at each corner, who are there more or less to help older people in need, and they do not intervene to control jay-walking, even though there is no crosswalk marked, and even though there is a fence erected to block this. I asked the police officer if I could cross when the vehicles had a green light and he hurriedly told me "Go! Go!" when I asked him if it as alright if I crossed at that time. It did not matter what the vehicle signals said, you could cross at any time, at your own risk. There did not appear to be any pedestrian right of way. And as can be seen in the video, most drivers of cars do not assert their right of way in a dangerous way to these pedestrians. There is a give and take in the traffic culture, where right of way is less emphasized.
SIGNALIZED CROSSWALKS in Chongqing China. 重庆人行横道跟交通灯
|
|
|
|