We're recommending you avoid the Metro at all costs this weekend as record breaking usage has been predicted due to the May Day / Labour Day holiday. 7.4 million people are expected to clog up the transport system today, with every single one of them threatening to breathe directly into your face from a distance of 2cm if you add to their numbers. more ›

This clip from "Accidents That Should Never Happen," an allegedly instructional bit from Beijing TV's show Traffic Light, makes us wonder two things: if the people are going to be okay, and how their genes survived this long with that level of decision-making. Via beijingcream.com. more ›

Finnish expatriate Mario Hakulinen, also known by his Chinese name Ma Ruinan, has been living in Fuzhou for the last 11 years. Over the last decade, he has become increasingly frustrated with the drivers who refuse to give way to pedestrians. To do his bit to make Fuzhou the safest city in China, he decided to take matters into his own hands -- by jumping in front of cars and using "tai chi" to ensure drivers stop for pedestrians. More on why he does what he does after the jump... more ›

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Disaster has struck again in Guangdong province, where the death of two-year-old toddler Yueyue after a double hit-and-run has left the nation and the world stunned with the apathy of bystanders who left her bleeding by the roadside. Two three-year-old kids have been knocked down in separate incidents under eerily similar circumstances, both just metres away from their parents' shophouses. more ›

"A German, identified as Christian, the sales director of a transport company, had been driving along Qilianshan Road in Baoshan District on the night of August 7. His car was in a collision with a pedestrian. A blood test recorded 3.13 milligrams of alcohol per millimeter, while the limit is 0.8mg/ml. A Greek named Santos, manager of a local plastic company, was found drunk driving without a driving license on Yan'an Road early on July 27. His blood alcohol content was above the limit. And South Korean Lee Chi-Young, a company representative in Suzhou, was stopped on May 21 on Yan'an Road. His blood alcohol content was 0.96mg/ml. Under an amendment to China's Criminal Law effective on May 1, drivers with alcohol levels at or above the legal limit are considered guilty of dangerous driving." more ›

Warning: The following video contains graphic images not suitable for all viewers. If you have children with you, please lock them out of your room before clicking on this video. more ›

A 31-kilometer section of the new S207 highway in Gansu, an 8.7 billion RMB project ($1.36 billion USD), is already being repaired for cracks mere months after opening for service. The 235-kilometer Tianding Expressway (天定高速) runs from Tianshui (天水) to Dingxi (定西) in Gansu, and was completed on May 31st. more ›

Shanghai's Metro authority just announced the closure of two downtown roads, beginning this Saturday. Qufu Road (曲阜路) in Huangpu District and Damuqiao Road (大木桥路) in Xuhui District will be closed for more than two years, until the end of 2013, in order to make way for Line 12 metro stations in the Metro expansion plan. Once completed, Line 12 will connect Minhang district with northern Pudong. So if you're a driver, bus passenger, or frequent cab-taker, expect to catch yourself stuck in traffic or making a detour if you're near the mentioned areas. Pedestrians, and cyclists, (and we suspect four-legged friends, as well as some e-bike/scooter riders) will not be affected. more ›

I don't know, maybe we should just start a daily photo gallery of crap that's collapsed or fallen apart around China? This week, the White River Bridge in Beijing's Huairou district collapsed when a truck weighing approximately 160 tons tried to drive across it. more ›

Only a day and a half after it was opened, a newly constructed highway in Kunming, Yunnan province collapsed on July 10, killing two and injuring two others. It's being called the "shortest-lived highway ever." While rain was largely blamed for the collapse, it is obvious to observers that both proper testing and proper construction safety measures hadn't been undertaken. more ›

"Very few low-income households have their own cars. If tolls for roads and bridges were abolished, the government would still have to repay the banks. This money could be used by the government to develop other public or social security services. Would this then not be unfair to low-income families?" more ›

"A GRIEVING couple blocked a road yesterday morning in a protest over the death of their three-year-old son after receiving an intravenous drip at a nearby health care center. The mother and father from Jiangsu Province, with relatives and friends, brought traffic to a halt for around two hours on Fengzhuang Road. More than 30 protesters stopped traffic at about 7am, daubing the Chinese character for 'wrong' on the walls of the community health care center and carrying placards into the middle of the road calling for justice. The distraught family laid a wreath on the road and knelt down on the ground. More than 100 police officers and urban management officials rushed to the scene to restore the traffic flow. Traffic was flowing normally again at around 9am. Officers took the family in for questioning and published a post on their microblog yesterday, urging people to take a rational response in medical disputes. The boy, the couple's only child, died on Saturday on the way to a hospital after receiving intravenous drips at the Zhenxin Community Health Care Center, witnesses said. Health authorities said they are looking into the case." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

You might be tempted to think this is yet another of those mysterious sinkholes that have been appearing around China, but nope, this is really just one giant gaping hole on a bridge! On Sunday morning at 3.30am in Changchun, this unfortunate truck driving across a bridge over Yitong River fell through the fracture, injuring the driver and another passenger. Was the truck overweight or was the bridge just shoddily constructed with substandard steel? We're inclined to think it's the latter. more ›

China's got talent -- no kidding! Look what we've got in Taizhou, Zhejiang province -- a man driving not one, but two bumper cars on a busy city street. And the uniquely talented individual even tries to overtake a car at the lights! Fortunately for the other motorists, traffic police caught up with the man before he created any mayhem, and told the poor soul having the time of his life that bumper cars are meant for the amusement park and not, erm, meant for the roads. And fortunately for us too, surveillance cameras were on hand to catch all the action. Enjoy:
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Recently, the police in Heze, Shandong, published a video compilation of raw footage caught on security cameras documenting some of the most horrific accidents that have taken place on the city's streets. The video has attracted "tens of millions of visits" according to the Ministry of Tofu, and has gained its fair share of controversy -- some say this is the most effective way of raising the level of road safety awareness, while others say there are less graphic ways of achieving the same goal. more ›

"POLICE in Shanghai are to trial the use of helicopters to help direct road traffic during rush hours, the latest move by the city to relieve its notorious traffic gridlocks. An EC-135 police helicopter will cruise over the city's major thoroughfares on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons, videotaping road conditions and broadcasting warnings to drivers violating traffic rules, the Shanghai Bureau of Public Security said yesterday. The use of helicopters, which are fast and command views over a wide area, could assist ground controllers to better handle accidents and clear traffic jams." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

11 passengers were killed when a bus carrying a total of 34 passenger came off the road on Shaoshan Mountain. We were surprised to learn from this report that last year, roads in China claimed more lives than any other country with over 81,000 fatalities. We are however unsure where China stands on a per capita basis.[Source] more ›

In yet another dose of Shanghai street sign news, we spotted this gem near the junction of Wuding Road. Okay okay we all know Xizang Lu is supposed to be Tibet Road, but does anyone know why Jiaozhou Lu would translate as Jurong Road? Random English translation (we actually know of an actual road by the same name elsewhere in Asia) aside, we are also not sure why the letter "g" is switched to another font instead of Helvetica. more ›