Observation #14: As I've touched on before, traffic in Hong Kong is something to take very seriously. But there is one thing that makes getting around here more miserable than any place I've ever been, whether I'm driving, being a pedestrian or taking the bus. That thing, or rather people, are the massive numbers of professional Hong Kong drivers who spend their day carting around the city's businessmen, Tai Tais and school children.
These drivers are usually either local Cantonese or Filipino and they earn anywhere from $500 USD to over $2000 USD per month, depending on experience. I'm sure experience matters when you're the employer and you need a driver who knows the city like the back of his hand and knows all of the traffic tricks to get to the destination quickly and safely. Those drivers, though, are very aggressive. They dart in and out of traffic, steadfastly charging in front of any vehicle, bus or pedestrian who dares to get in between their car and the road. They have been known to nudge "innocent" jay walkers with the bumper of the van (drivers are usually captains of minivans). They'll show them who's king of the road.
They will push in front of another car with centimeters to spare (or not) causing the visitor passengers in the van to gasp in shock while the employer sits there calmly with a look of satisfaction on her face. "Isn't he good?" she comments while the other people in the car are busy having a meaningful conversation with their barf bags. The inexperienced drivers are just as bad. They have absolutely no idea where they are going so they rely on navigation systems that don't always work in conjunction with Hong Kong's tall buildings so they are constantly going too slow, going the wrong direction or going in reverse because they missed their turn. They don't know driver etiquette and they don't know how to at least pretend to stay out of the way.
The worse things about the drivers, though, are the constant idling, the forever circling of parking decks and roundabouts while waiting on the employer, the blocking of streets and parking spaces for the same reason and the blocking of the school car pick-up waiting area while waiting on the children to get out of school. The drivers have nothing to do except make their pick-ups so when they are on child duty, they get in the pick-up line hours early and eventually two lanes of parked, idling vans are lining the streets. Then the sidewalk gets filled with drivers standing around chit chatting and they don't even bother to step aside so the moms can get through to pick up their children.
I understand that it's very hot in Hong Kong and they want the car to be nice and cool when the child gets in but idling is a major contributor to air pollution and it makes walking down the sidewalk extremely unpleasant and hazardous to my health. Hong Kong is even starting to crack down on idlers so a lot of the drivers circle around and around and around holding up traffic and generally aggravating everyone else on the road. When we go to the Repulse Bay Arcade, it's hard to get into the car park because it's full of drivers endlessly circling. Or worse, they are idling while sitting in a parking space that someone else could be using. My blood pressure rises just thinking about it. If it weren't for these drivers who I'm sure make life very convenient for the people who have them, traffic would run much more smoothly and the air would be much more pleasant to breathe. I would have a much sweeter disposition, too, and I'm sure that everyone will agree that would make Hong Kong a very nice place to live.
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