HK govt announced to allow private mainland Vehicles on our roads WTF!!!!!!!!!

[Dreadnought]

Saw a video once of an accident somewhere in China which, even if I can find it, I wouldn't post on here. It seemed like an open road and this trucker rammed a motorcyclist on a tiny moped from behind.

It all seemed to happen at a slow-ish speed (or maybe just played back in slow motion, I don't remember) but, for whatever reason, the driver of the truck was not able to (or simply did not bother to) slow down quick enough upon impact and well... let's just say the motorcyclist became one with the asphalt.

When this trial comes into effect, I reckon our roads will have just become more dangerous. Pedestrians are no safer than other motorists.

[emmie]

We already have enough arseholes who can't drive. This morning I saw some guy turn into a road way too fast, not looking where he was heading, and nearly hit a bunch of schoolgirls crossing the road. He didn't even slow down. The girls ran to get out of the way and he had the impudence to honk at them. Further down the road, he drove over the pavement to park.

When he had stopped, I did my civic duty by calling him a fat cunt and telling him to take some fucking driving lessons. I really need to learn how to say that in Cantonese (and Mandarin?).

In the interests of school kids like in your anecdote, in Canto, say something like:

Fay PUK-guy... Nay Maan -ga!?
Fat b*****d (expletive)... You BLIND!?

TAI-ju dee Hok-san haan -ah
Watch out for students walking about

Nay JANG-HI yiu HOK jaa-chea -ah
You REALLY DO need to LEARN how to drive

[jaykay]

I have noticed some mainland cars with dual HK registrations around Wanchai, but they really are a rarity. Of the HK cars with dual registrations, some of them are private cars, not company cars. From Jaykay's post it would seem as though only companies can apply for these dual registrations, whereas perhaps it ought to be clarified a bit. Individuals CAN apply for these dual registrations, it's just that unless the individual in question has a substantial business presence or financial investment in the mainland, he or she stands a snowball's chance in hell of getting approval.

An individual applying would have to have a company in China with a certain amount of turnover so it would still be company related. And anyone here who would pay for a car individually rather than through a company would need a head examination - tax being the first and foremost reason.

My old company had several vehicles - a BMW M5, and Audi S4 Avant, a Lexus LS460, a Toyota Previa and the obligatory Alphard (which I used to take x-border). They were "owned" by members of the family but all company vehicles at the end of the day (apparently the M5 has been replaced by a Nissan GT-R and the Audi by a BMW 335i Touring). So they all look "private" but they ain't!

In saying this you can as an individual apply to the PSB, a monkey on Lion Rock could do the same, but without that company your application would be pinned to the wall in Shenzhen and laughed at all week long.

[Raccon]

So as I said, its probably fair that if HK private cars are permitted into the mainland (under a permit system) then mainland cars should also be given the same privilege.

No it is not "right" when the other party needs no road test to get a license and generally drives like they give a shit. Safety comes before fairness.

[Freetrader]

No it is not "right" when the other party needs no road test to get a license and generally drives like they give a shit. Safety comes before fairness.

Or, to put it another way, "fairness" implies that there is some reasonable standard required to be met by anyone engaging in the activity in question. We don't allow doctors with diploma mill credentials to practice medicine locally, similarly we shouldn't allow drivers who obtained licenses in a fuckwit country to drive without at least passing a local driving test and obtaining locally valid insurance.

[wtbhotia]

u can buy those chinese plates even if you dont have a business in China for 600K depending on which border it is registered to, Lok Ma Chau being the most expensive.

Some factories have an extra plate so they just keep one and sell of the other one.

[PDLM]

Aren't you guys confusing two separate questions here?

Licensing of cars is quite separate from licensing of drivers.

[East_coast]

On a positive note it will mean you can drive to a much cheaper supermarket and stock up. It should help break the duopoly.

[Boris]

On a positive note it will mean you can drive to a much cheaper supermarket and stock up. It should help break the duopoly.

Fake Milk, Fake Eggs, Growth Hormone feed meats, Fake QA labelling -- Yum Yum - can't happen soon enough because I take from your meaning, going INTO China.

Some may be a little confused because this is about China INTO HK, so are you saying its cheaper in HK ?? Confused I am.

[M Khan]

From what I have seen of the driving test in the mainland, I believe it's fairly rigorous, these days, with computerised theory and practical elements that cover much the same things as the UK test.

The practical assessment is taken off-road in a driving school, which, I admit, does mean that newly licenced drivers on China's roads have absolutely no prior experience of traffic. However, the technical aspects of controling a vehicle are pretty well covered.

The two greatest failings, as I see them, are these :

1) A lot of people still buy their licences. Of the people I know who drive in the mainland, over half bought their licences. While most bought them some years ago, and there has been some suggestion that this practice has now become less common, I still know two people who bought their licences VERY recently. One of them had her licence bought for her by her father because she failed her test. Her driving instructor had told her that she was dangerous on the roads, which had put her off wanting to take the test again.

2) The first unwritten rule of driving in China is to throw the rule book out of the window. Drivers may have remembered the rules well enough to pass the computerised test, but that then bears no practical relation to actual conditions on the roads. Knowing what the rule book says about approaching junctions doesn't prepare a student for the reality of what a Chinese intersection is like, or how to stay alive in negotiating it. The only rule of thumb is to expect every other driver to go for any (even faintly viable) gap in traffic and to not be properly looking out for road threats. Remember this and adapt your road presence accordingly.

I had a tiny prang in the mainland, once, due in no small part to the sheer stupidity of a driver from the oncoming flow who thought it appropriate to do a U-turn across a six-lane highway in heavy traffic. We then yelled at each other for half an hour, each demanding that the other pay for the damage (as is the custom on the mainland), until a police officer turned up and threatened to tow our vehicles and impound them for a few days unless we settled the matter and cleared the road. Small bribe to the policeman and an agreement to meet our own costs sorted things out. Turns out the woman into who side I went didn't even have a licence, bought or otherwise.