Not just too many cars, too many traffic restrictions
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[ By Liu Rui/Global Times] |
A Beijing man was driving home from work with his pet turtle on the Second Ring Road, and sure enough, they got stuck in traffic. The turtle got impatient and insisted on walking home, leaving the man sitting in the car. After a while, he was startled by some angry tapping at the car window. It was the turtle, "Hey! You gave me the wrong key to the apartment!"
There is no lack of jokes about traffic congestion in Beijing. According to a recent study by IBM, which interviewed 8,192 motorists in 20 cities on six continents, Beijing ranks No. 1 in commuter pain, followed closely by Mexico City, Johannesburg, and Moscow.
The people of Beijing have been subjected to a variety of vehicle control measures, none of which yielded much result.
On December 23, the Beijing municipal government issued yet another policy, considered by many to be the "toughest congestion-tackling measure in history," drastically limiting the number of car license plates to be issued per year and imposing strict regulations on car buyers.
Will it work this time? I have my doubts.
These measures are based on the belief that the vast number of cars is the main reason for the traffic problems in Beijing.
As a driver myself, I have to disagree. For example, Chang'an Avenue used to be my favorite east-west route in Beijing. But now there are always some sort of traffic restrictions.
You see traffic in both directions held up, with two lanes completely closed to traffic. Police line the intersection, and 30 minutes can easily elapse before a couple of fancy cars with police sirens come zooming by. Sometimes I can explain to my passengers what's happening, like, "Oh, I read that the Japanese Prime Minister is visiting." But more often than not, I'm clueless.
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