The next time you get stuck in traffic, remember this scene of residents returning to Beijing, China, after a week-long national holiday. The video was posted October 7.
Another video, posted by metro.co.uk, included notes:
This was the horrific sight faced by many Chinese motorists as millions of people took to the roads during the week-long national holiday that China recently celebrated.
An incredible 50 lanes of motorway were gridlocked after a new checkpoint was installed outside the capital, causing a nightmare-inducing bottle neck in traffic.
People returning home after the national holiday were forced to wait for hours as more and more cars joined the queue, stretching out as far as the eye could see.
Yikes!! 50 lanes of traffic. Cannot wrap my head around that – even adding up my worst drives through the big cities, stir in parking entry/exits for Disney and Universal, sprinkle with hurricane evacuations in TX , GA, and FL… and still nowhere close. I SO appreciate my 2 to 3 to 2 lanes to work each morning! Nearest in amount of frustration would be waiting in long lines at entrance to RMNP 😉
Now imagine you’re in the far left lane and your upcoming exit is to the right …
That makes me think of Frogger!!
HELP>>>Where are the bathrooms AND my gas tank is sucking fumes!
Yep, definitely not fun.
Gives a whole new appreciation for “Are we there yet?” Memo to Republicans: You say you want to eliminate the EPA? Uh, if you visit Beijing, don’t forget your gas mask.
Good point. I keep wondering how they expect to get by if they eliminate all the things they say they will. I’m sure they benefit from and use public services just like everyone else.
Totally depressing and given our rate of population growth perhaps a nightmare scenario for the future?
Good grief, I hope not. LA is already worse than anything I’d care to tackle.
Very dispiriting.
Just be glad you don’t live there.
Wow. That is some avatar! Not my doing.
Sorry. Avatars are computer-generated for people who don’t already have one. I have no control over them either. You should go to gravatar.com and set up a gravatar/avatar of your choice.
Amazing. I suppose the Chinese have some acquaintance with crowds, in cars or out of them, and may be a little less perturbed by this than we are. Lucky they don’t all have guns, though.
Wouldn’t take many guns to turn that log jam into a shooting gallery. Especially if you add a little frustration and road rage. But maybe they’re so indoctrinated that they just accept it without question.
In such a situation, what you DON’T want to hear is:
“Please go to the back of the line.”
And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse.
There are a lot of cars there. I don’t want to be there ever!
Me either. Besides, the smog would kill me.
I don’t like driving at the best of times, and refuse to drive in larger cities (my own city, Victoria, Canada is so tame!). Reading this post and viewing the video made me shudder.
Me too. I avoid the freeways here in Denver as much as possible. The jams can be frustrating, but it’s the four lanes of bumper-to-bumper moving at 70 mph that unnerves me.