Currently, there is a heated debate going on across China’s Internet forums. It started with the following video clip, shown below. A male driver pulls a female driver out from her car and beats her up bitterly. The male driver was extensively condemned by public at first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptHO45amo3Q
The following video shows what happened right before the beat up. A series of dangerous driving behaviors caused by road rage. The very first cause is that the female driver recklessly changed lanes, and then, crazy back-and-forth retaliation from both parties. The result is the furious male driver beating up the female driver, as shown in the above video. Major public opinion changed tone instantly, not only because of the new video, but also because netizens further revealed (through an inappropriate intrusion of privacy) the female driver was a frequent traffic violator and received a staggering number of tickets in the past few years. The male driver was acclaimed as a “justice enforcer” by many people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxPCHSOBZ4w
As a Chinese citizen, I feel deeply ashamed about the incident. Though I’ve for long known it is just one embodiment of many uncivilized behaviors on China’s roads, this incident reminds me blatantly how slow a leveling up in a country’s civilization index can be. Especially when I’ve lived in the US for two years and can read the difference from out of the box.
Driving on US roads is more pleasant than on China’s roads. This is current fact. No wonder. Americans have been driving for 100 years while Chinese started to embrace private cars only several decades ago. But current China’s road law enforcement does not do a very job at regulating people’s driving behaviors. Technically, traffic penalty is too light. Fines are like jokes to the rich. Violations are seldom prosecuted, and not connected with insurance. The cost of breaking the law is too low. Culturally, people don’t believe in law enforcement (the police). Corruption is believed to exist extensively (true in many cases). When there is dispute, people trust fist more than legal means (real sad thing and the point I don’t like about China). The logic behind some people’s compassion on the male driver is: you are road killer, so people have the right to beat you, till you know you are wrong. Should we blame people for their lacking sense of rule of law?
Thinking about Russia seems to be worse than China (according to many youtube videos) in this realm, should I feel relieved a little bit?