Saturday, April 10, 2010

Guangzhou taxis

Two points. One, they are cheap. They are priced in Yuan about the same as they are in the states in dollars. So a twenty dollar ride is 3 bucks for us - that rocks.

Two, they are extremely unsafe in my opinion. Why? For starters, the back seats don't have seatbelts. Its like they went out of their way to remove them actually b/c the belt is physically there, just the buckle is removed.

But its worse than that, because not only are there no belts, but there are solid steel barriers between the front and rear seats. These are designed to protect the driver from mugging I guess. But in any sort of accident, even one that wouldn't normally have the force to throw the unrestrained driver from the car, a person will be thrown headlong into the steel bars right in front of them and crack their skull like an eggshell falling on a tile floor.

Oh, I forgot to mention a third thing. Everyone drives aggressively, at least by my standards. Also, lanes are more of a suggestion than anything resembling a traffic law.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

5 comments:

julie said...

try not to have to take a taxi ok Nick? we want you home in one piece

Sarah said...

I'm with Mom K! Be safe!

Nicholas said...

Don't worry guys we mostly can walk and use the metro.

Anonymous said...

Hi Nick,

This is your parents' neighbor Xiaowei. Just saw your blog. Very interesting.

Will you be in China through May 1 (labor day holiday)? Watch out for the crowds. You have seen nothing yet. :)

Have you tried dim sum? Guang Zhou/Hong Kong has the best dim sum.

Have a great time in China and Guang Zhou!

later

julie said...

Nick , after reading Xiaowei's comment , you will have to take pictures of the Labor Day holiday! Can't imagine it being more crowded than it is now !