CCTV news cited a Baidu Map database to report that Beijing has the longest commute in China for both distance and time, clocking in at an average of 18.9 kilometers and taking 50 minutes to complete. As well, Beijing roads are among the most congested in the country, with traffic on the East 3rd Ring Road only moving at an average of 22.6 kilometers per hour. It’s also the most congested road in the city.

Guangzhou has the next longest commute in China among major cities at an average of 18 kilometers requiring 40 minutes to complete, according to the report. Guangzhou also has the distinction of having the most congested road in China, Zhongshanliu Road, whereby traffic crawls along at an average of 15.5 kilometers per hour.

Shanghai comes next, named as having the third-longest commute at 18 kilometers, requiring 40 minutes to complete.

A 2015 report from another Baidu database named Beijing as the worst commute in China for clocking in at 52 minutes and 19.2 kilometers long, revealing that some commuters from out of town were traveling as much as 50 kilometers a day just to get to to work. Meanwhile another report last year said the average daily congestion time in Beijing is an hour and 55 minutes.

But while cities like Beijing seem designed to welcome long commutes due to urban sprawl and its way of urban planning, the worst commute doesn’t belong to the capital, but to Hangzhou.

It may seem strange to give top position to a smaller-scale city in which commutes take only half the average commuting time of Beijing at 24 minutes. However, the average distance a driver commutes is a paltry 8.7 kilometers, making Hangzhou the “least effective” commute.

On the flip side, Guangzhou gets the honor of having the “most effective” commute among major Chinese cities for allowing drivers to travel 18 kilometers in just 40 minutes.

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When a red alert is called in Beijing, state imposed driving restrictions should theoretically reduce traffic by some 50 percent. Alternating each day, only cars with license plates ending in either an even or odd number are permitted to drive in an effort to reduce air pollution.

However, according to CCTV and Beijing News, 112,800 vehicles violated the restrictions during the four day red alert. The fine for driving on the wrong day is 100 yuan ($15) for every three hours on the road, which would peg the total fines at approximately $1.6 million.

Beijing drivers faced similar restrictions during the lead up to the military parade held to commemorate the end of World War II.

Other policies and restrictions faced by Beijing drivers include high prices for parking spaces that need to be purchased before buying a car, high prices for license plates, and campaigns to promote bicycle use. Despite all this, there are already too many drivers on Beijing’s heavily congested roads, which are among the worst in China.

Beijing has 4.3 million registered car users.

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An unidentified woman was driving on Jiuxian Bridge Road in Beijing’s Chaoyang District last night when she drove over a manhole cover. The manhole collapsed, causing an opening in the road that flipped over the woman’s BMW. The woman had to be pulled out of the passenger-side window by a couple of helpful bystanders.

As the photograph shows, the car somehow dislodged both the manhole cover and the steel frame holding it in place. According to a report in the Lawcourt Evening News, there were no warning signs or traffic cones to indicate any possible danger and the section of the road was poorly lit.

No injuries were reported, but the female driver was sent to hospital as a precautionary measure.

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The Ministry said that the most common acts of road rage include cutting off other drivers, tailgating, and sudden accelerating and braking. The culprits are also overwhelmingly male. According to the Ministry, 97 percent of all acts of road rage involve men.

One prominent example went viral this past May when a dash-mounted video camera recorded a vicious road rage incident in Chengdu. After a female driver named Hu changed lanes suddenly, a male driver named Zhang decided to retaliate. Zhang chased Hu until he was able to stop her underneath an overpass, where he assaulted her, leaving her with a concussion and broken bones.

While some netizens were quick to denounce Zhang for his cruelty, others cheered him on, arguing that Hu’s careless driving justified the physical retaliation.

The World Health Organization estimated 261,000 people died on China’s roads in 2013, while the Chinese government said 1,895 pedestrians died in traffic collisions when crossing roads last year.

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In a statement, Uber said it suspected Wang of fraud because he had logged so many more work hours than his peers. “The accounts were registered … with fake information, and the records of the trips from those accounts looked dubious,” said Uber.

Wang has yet to be formally charged by police.

This past June, a report by Tencent (a financial backer of Uber’s competitor, Didi Kuaidi) suggested that millions of booked Uber rides were faked by its drivers in order to qualify for subsidies.

Tech in Asia made the argument that this type of fraudulent behavior may have been beneficial to Uber (at the time):

On the one hand, it is essentially being stolen by “drivers” who aren’t actually taking passengers anywhere. But on the other hand, the increased rides count that all of these fake drivers provide helps bolster Uber’s China stats when it’s looking for investment – like it is right now.

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And now, it is getting even tougher.

Deputy mayor of Beijing Zhang Tingkun wants every driver in Beijing to first buy a parking space before being able to buy the car itself.

Zhang made the announcement during a session of the 19th meeting of the 40th National People’s Congress. The “Beijing Municipal Automobile Parking Regulation” is expected to come into effect in 2016 to address Beijing’s serious shortage of parking spaces.

While things may change before then (or not), Beijing drivers were not happy at all with Zhang’s announcement.

One netizen expressed her disgust with the comment, “It’s getting easier to detest Beijing’s government!!!” while another said, “To hell with your stupid rules.”

One commentator took things to its logical conclusion by saying, “To protect the environment, the capital should just outright ban the sale of cars.”

But netizens weren’t just full of outrage and sarcasm. One commentator pointed out, “When the time comes, there will be an emergence of a new business for the certification of parking spaces, and with it a new layer of corruption.” Another made the point that “Parking spaces aren’t mobile, but cars are. Therefore, there’s no need for every car to have a parking space. It’s crazy for our esteemed mayor to ensure that every car has a parking spot. Rich people can spend money to solve problems, while poor people can only laugh.”

It may turn out that Beijing drivers will need to put it in “park” before putting it into “drive”.

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According to Jinjiang District police of the Jackie Chan Street sub-division, driver of a red Hyundai Miss Hu had made an abrupt lane change, narrowly avoiding a collision with a red Polo car driven by Mr Zhang. Zhang became enraged, and chased after Hu until he was finally able to stop her car underneath the Jiaozi overpass at around 2:13pm. There, Zhang pulled Hu out of her car and savagely beat her with punches and kicks.

“I thought he had something he wanted to discuss with me, when in fact he came over, opened my door and started beating me without saying a word,” Hu said.

A dashboard camera recorded the two cars coming to a stop, and the beginning of the assault before the driver of that car drove away. The 35 second video was posted to the internet and went viral yesterday, causing many netizens to criticize and scorn the attacker.

Bystanders soon gathered at the scene, preventing the attacker from leaving. When police arrived, the man had another physical altercation, fighting with bystanders while armed with a screwdriver. A taxi driver suffered cuts to his face and back.

Hu was taken to hospital where she was diagnosed with having a cerebral concussion, broken bones, and multiple bruising all over her body.

Zhang told Jinjiang police the sudden lane change had scared his child, which is why he became so angry.

Here is a video report of the incident that shows the dashboard camera footage:

The post Vicious Chengdu Road Rage Assault Caught on Video appeared first on The Nanfang.

A four-meter diameter sinkhole appeared at an intersection in Jinjiang on November 27 after a heavy transport truck drove over it. The driver of the car immediately following the truck was able to stop in time and avoid driving into the hole. But shortly afterward a white Kia K2 turned left right into the sinkhole that other drivers successfully avoided.

Two people in the car were able to escape as it teetered precariously over the hole. Mr Li, the driver, described the harrowing ordeal:

It scared me so much that I started sweating all over. My head went blank all of a sudden, I didn’t know what to do.

Not long afterwards, the vehicle flipped over and landed inside the hole as it kept widening. It was eventually pulled out using a crane.

Fujian was the scene of another two-meter deep sinkhole last February. Sinkholes are also somewhat common in Dongguan, and are so common in Beijing that reporters are bribed to prevent them from publishing stories about them.

Here are two GIFs from a traffic surveillance camera that shows the sinkhole first being created, and the white Kia driving into the hole:

Here is a television report on the incident:

Photos: Quanzhou Evening Report, Sina News Video

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Four thousand Beijingers clamoured online to buy 11 outrageously priced vehicles, all due to the fact that they had highly sought after Beijing license plates.

For the first time, the auction was conducted “Taobao-style” on the China Beijing Equity Exchange website. The cars were on sale for all of 12-hours, and immediately rose in value. The most expensive car was a Jaguar with an estimated value of RMB 310,000 that sold for a whopping RMB 465,000.

There is an intense demand for vehicle license plates in Beijing. While the purchase of a car is the most expensive part of driving in the nation’s capital, obtaining a license plate is often more difficult and time-consuming. Beijing drivers participate in a lottery that assigns license plates at random.

Demand for licenses increased after vehicle regulations were implemented in 2011, which restricted vehicle use depending on the license number. As a way to control traffic and limit carbon emissions, cars are prohibited from driving in Beijing if the last number in their license plate ends in a even or odd number.

Photo: CCTV, China Daily

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Oh, China. Foreigners and Chinese people alike fall for your many scams and get-rich-quick schemes.

One scam, identified as the “broken vase”, was recently caught on video in Shenzen. Although it can take a number of forms, all it really requires is a staged accident or collision to dupe a motorist into believing that he or she is responsible for causing injury or damage. It can be as simple as crawling under a stopped bus or as brazen as intimidating drunk drivers with a car full of surly men.

A  surveillance video caught one such incident in Shanghai’s Jiuting, Songjiang District. As explained by the Shenzhen Traffic Police, the “broken vase” scam has many participants playing different roles.

Step One: The Instigation – A driver drives very slowly to frustrate the car behind him. Notice how the silver, instigating car is travelling at the same speed as the bicycle (the “broken vase”) to its right.

Step Two: The Overtake – The frustrated motorist driving the black car decides to overtake the instigating car by passing to its right.

Step Three: The Collision – While passing, the black car’s driver is presumably focused to his left. This is when the cyclist purposely collides with the black car.

Step Four: The Fall. The cyclist falls and claims to be injured because the driver decided to overtake the slower vehicle. The driver is unable to defend himself and will (likely) be willing to pay the money asked by the “broken vase”. During the confrontation between the driver and the cyclist, witnesses (who are usually a part of the scam) often show up to help the “broken vase”.

Here’s the entire scam caught in a GIF:

Scams in China depend on simplicity to be effective, but, it should be remembered that there is usually more than one or two people involved. Hopefully, a little knowledge of the trick’s mechanics will prevent further marks from being duped.

Photos: Shenzhen Traffic Police

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