Beating traffic jams with magical thinking from China －中国からの魔法の考えで交通渋滞を打破すること－

Traffic congestion must be a big problem in China.  Not so long ago, almost everyone got around by bike.  Now a great many people can afford a car.  So the roads quickly fill with vehicles and workers have to face a horrible commute stuck in long traffic jams.

Wouldn’t it be nice if a single magical solution could make the problem go away?  Why couldn’t you just fly above the traffic jam, or make all the other traffic disappear?

This year a crazy sounding plan to build a fleet of “traffic-straddling buses” was tested and eventually abandoned.  The idea was to build buses with wheels touching the ground, but the body of the bus and passengers lifted high into the air, so that normal cars could drive in the space underneath.  It is a little like buses flying above the traffic.  But because the wheels of the bus are still touching the ground, it is not really flying.  It is more like riding on a giant elephant, while people riding smaller animals (donkeys?) pass happily underneath.  It certainly sounds like an ambitious idea, if a little dangerous.  You don’t want to be passing happily underneath an elephant when he farts, for example.  I don’t know if that was why the traffic-straddling buses idea was abandoned.

And I read a story this week about another Chinese man’s big idea to get around the traffic jams on his daily commute.  In the middle of the night he crept out and repainted the traffic signs on the roads he used.  He commuted by bus, so he painted the signs to give buses a priority lane running most of the way to his office.  Normal traffic was directed away from this special lane, allowing his bus to move along much more quickly.  It was a simpler plan than flying above the traffic jams, although a lot more selfish.  His plan eventually backfired when he was caught on CCTV.

So neither plan worked.  But you have to admire the attempts.  Sometimes imagining magical solutions can lead to interesting ideas.

Vocabulary:

congestion – the state of being blocked, stuck, unable to move etc.

a commute – a regularly taken journey from home to work, school etc.

a traffic jam – a line of cars or other vehicles unable to move quickly

to straddle – to sit or stand with one leg on either side of (eg. He straddled his horse)

to fart – to pass wind; to release gas from your lower body

to creep – to move slowly or quietly in order to avoid being noticed

a priority lane – one part of a road, which is reserved for certain types of vehicles, such as bicycles (a cycle lane) etc.

to backfire – of a plan, to have the opposite effect intended

CCTV – Closed-circuit television, often security cameras