Wrong way on a Motorway: What would you do?

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Picture the scene..

Your Chinese taxi driver realises he is heading in the wrong direction but rather than wait for an exit he decides to pull a u-turn on a 3 lane motorway and head back into oncoming traffic!

I can't quite decide whether I'd freak out and demand the driver let me off or take the "When in Rome" attitude like the tourists on board do and muse about how dangerous it is but let him get on with it.

/edit here it is on youtube:

http://www.********.com/view?i=a75_1291689261
 
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Go to the hard shoulder immediately.

Once I had figured how the hell that happenned, I'd decide whether to call a towing service or try to do a U turn.
 
DB_SamX said:
Go to the hard shoulder immediately.

Once I had figured how the hell that happenned, I'd decide whether to call a towing service or try to do a U turn.
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Can't see vid but it sounds like the driver was going the right side of motorway but in wrong direction, so turned and the went into oncoming traffic.
 
DB_SamX said:
Go to the hard shoulder immediately.

Once I had figured how the hell that happenned, I'd decide whether to call a towing service or try to do a U turn.
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Did you actually read the OP. It's discussing a passenger in a Chinese taxi.

Anyway, I've never driven the wrong way down a motorway but this morning there were hundreds of people all going the wrong way! :D
 
tom_e said:
I'd be very confused and let him get on with it, it would make a good holiday story
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Yes I'm sure your local bobby or coroner or whoever gets this sort of job will really enjoy telling that story to your family.

I also like how only one driver is narked or surprised enough to actually flash headlights at the guy.
 
Go have a look at the traffic in Egypt, u-turns across multi-lane roads are normal there. They didn't seem to want to spend the dosh on slip lanes and overpasses, so it's business as usual over there.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
Go have a look at the traffic in Egypt, u-turns across multi-lane roads are normal there. They didn't seem to want to spend the dosh on slip lanes and overpasses, so it's business as usual over there.
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What struck me about this case is the road is a proper motorway. 3 lanes each direction with a central reservation and slip lane entry.

On smaller roads or those without medians I'd expect it!

Mind you, even in this country we see the odd person reversing up a hard shoulder when they miss the exit.
 
After being in many Taxis in China this does not surprise me at all... they are absolute nutters there! Not just the cabbies either.

They have great roads and good markings (except the rural places) but no one seems to give a damn about the "rules", they do what they want and virtually everyone who drives there would be considered "dangerous" by our standards.

It is fun to be a passanger though :)
 
I had a bowel moving experience in a taxi in China a while back. On a multi-lane road (probably 3 or four lanes in each direction, no central barrier), approaching a large box junction the traffic was really backed up. Even though we needed to turn right, and therefore should have queued up with the rest of the traffic the taxi driver simply pulled into the oncoming traffic and then swerved right into the junction at the last second, narrowly missing an oncoming truck and viciously cutting up a couple of cars at the junction.

This kind of thing is pretty normal over there though, and no one really bats an eyelid (apart from Western passengers who are often gibbering wrecks by the time they reach their destination). Certainly there is no road rage like there would be over here, though plenty of horn action.

One thing that made me laugh - the taxis always try to straddle a lane divider rather than drive within a lane. This way people can't easily drive next to them so the taxi driver has the choice of swerving left or right to avoid the next obstacle he finds.
 
Its ok when they are in china, its when they do the same over in the uk. I was driving home from work last year when a young Pakistani lad did a 3 point turn in the middle of this junction. no one could believe what he was doing and he just acted like it was normal.

colnerd.jpg
 
NathanE said:
^ I'd probably do a u-turn on that junction too if the was the space to do it. :/
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It wasn't a U turn it was a 3 point turn, he moved forward past the junction, on a red light, then reversed up back towards the camera, then turned towards the junction to the left in the picture and finally reversed again so that he was now facing the camera and moved off back the way he came. This was in rush hour traffic. no one beeped at him as we all just stopped and watched it happen.
 
Dogbreath said:
I had a bowel moving experience in a taxi in China a while back. On a multi-lane road (probably 3 or four lanes in each direction, no central barrier), approaching a large box junction the traffic was really backed up. Even though we needed to turn right, and therefore should have queued up with the rest of the traffic the taxi driver simply pulled into the oncoming traffic and then swerved right into the junction at the last second, narrowly missing an oncoming truck and viciously cutting up a couple of cars at the junction.

This kind of thing is pretty normal over there though, and no one really bats an eyelid (apart from Western passengers who are often gibbering wrecks by the time they reach their destination). Certainly there is no road rage like there would be over here, though plenty of horn action.

One thing that made me laugh - the taxis always try to straddle a lane divider rather than drive within a lane. This way people can't easily drive next to them so the taxi driver has the choice of swerving left or right to avoid the next obstacle he finds.
Click to expand...

When Kate was in China she asked their guide about some of the horrendous driving over there and the guide mentioned something about an accident cannot be your fault if you do not see (and try to avoid) the car you crash into. So nobody makes eye contact and everyone keeps eyes forward at all times when merging!

Also if a tourist has a crash it is their fault in a court decision, as if they were not in China the accident would never have happened.

Something like that anyway, sounds hilarious!
 
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