Chris Drumgoole

I had my first almost run-in with a Beijing Traffic cop this morning.

In the almost 5 years I’ve been riding my motorbike through Beijing, I have enjoyed an almost-invincibility / invisibility from the traffic police. Sure, I’ve heard stories of foreigners being stopped (driving either cars or motorbikes) by traffic cops for one thing or another, but usually playing the old “sorry, I don’t speak Chinese” trick was enough to get out of it.

I have seen many times when coming up to an intersection with cops directing traffic or conducting random checks on passing vehicles, the cop would slightly turn a bit so he and I would not lock eyes, thus letting me pass by.

Why were foreigners seemingly treated differently than the locals? Was it that the traffic police just didn’t care? Was it unofficial / unwritten policy to let us be? Was it a lack of confidence in their English capabilities? (because you know that the foreigner, whether he speaks Chinese or not, he won’t say a word in Chinese if he knows what’s good for him!)

Whatever the real reason, I didn’t care as it turned out to be an advantage.

The Incident

One of my normal routes to get the office in the mornings is to get onto the 2nd Ring Road at the Guangqumen bridge, drive North a bit, then get on the East-to-West expressway Tonghuihe to 4th Ring Road, then drive north ’til Dashanzi - then take surface roads the remainder of the way to the office.

(Now, as an aside, a quick reminder for those who don’t know. Officially, motorbikes, like what I drive, aren’t allowed on the Ring Roads/Expressways. I can’t count how many times cops have seen me but turn a blind eye. Yes, I know that doesn’t make driving on them right, at least, according to the law… I digress… )

This morning was no different. 2nd ring road was packed with traffic - but as I would only be on it for 400 meters before getting on the speedy Tonghuihe, it was worth the 5 minutes of mental anguish.

As I was getting onto 2nd Ring from the entrance ramp, the traffic cop who was at that entrance saw me, pointed at me, and told me to go to the side! Shit! (My papers/tax/inspection aren’t exactly up to date - something I’ve been meaning to fix) .

I stop, and wait for him to approach me. After a minute, he comes to me, points at the road (2nd ring), and says “No”, while shaking his head a bit. Then he points up the entrance ramp where I came from, motioned for me to follow him (he directed me against traffic, so he wanted it to look “official” I guess), and I did, and I drove away.

Whew!

O.K., so that could have had a few different results, but I am certainly happy with the result I had. The only annoying thing now is that route is clearly off limits, at least during morning rush hour, as I am sure that if he sees me again attempting the same shenanigans, I won’t get off as easily as I did today.

Darn the Olympics / social & economic progress / shitty city planners / “we must have a car” new middle class.

Beijing just isn’t the same anymore…

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm and is filed under China, Life, Motorbike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.