China has moved from Mao to motors. In the great tradition of journalists putting their lives on the line for their readers, Miriam Donohe recalls her driving experiences in Beijing where the car is fast replacing the bicycle as the favoured mode of transport.
Having lived in China for 18 months I will never complain about Dublin's traffic chaos again. You think things are bad here? Well, spend some time driving around the Chinese capital and you will come to the view that the traffic situation in Ireland is not so bad after all.
Setting out on a car journey in Beijing is daunting. It involves a feeling that you are taking your life in your hands. There appears to be no law, and he or she who holds toughest lasts longest.
You quickly realise as you weave your way through thousands of cars that traffic lights and pedestrian crossings are more street furniture than tools of traffic control.
They call car drivers the "new killers" in China, and not without reason: about 755,000 road accidents were recorded in the country in 2001. More than 100,000 people, or almost 300 a day, lost their lives in road accidents that year, an increase of 12,000 on 2000.
What is most worrying is that the increase in road deaths shows no sign of abating despite new safety campaigns and increased police surveillance. Unlicensed drivers, drunk driving, dangerous overtaking, poor roads and speeding are among the main causes of accidents. Big accidents with multiple deaths are also common.
One of the greatest problems on China's roads is inexperience. Only in recent years have cr sales started to take off in this country of 1.3 billion people. Most drivers have had their licences for less than five years. Often those killed are not drivers or passengers, but cyclists and pedestrians.
On a per capita basis, the figures initially appear less alarming. There were 8.4 deaths per 100,000 Chinese compared to 11 per 100,000 in OECD countries.
But it's the comparatively small number of vehicles on Chinese roads which makes the figures alarming. There are 114 cars for every 10,000 people compared with an average 6,500 per 10,000 people in developed countries.
However, the number of vehicles in China is increasing at a staggering rate as the country begins to flourish economically and urban dwellers aspire to the dream of car ownership.
In Beijing, a city of 13 million people, life on the roads is hectic. We lived downtown. Leaving our compound by car every day, we found ourselves joining a chaotic system of cars, buses, and bicycles.
Things are complicated by the city's 75,000 taxi drivers who make a virtue out of passing you on the inside, or on the outside, depending on their form. Taxi drivers blow their horns if you show the slightest hesitation - and then cut right across you when even a five-year-old could tell them that they don't have the right of way.
A Chinese friend once tried to explain to me the reason why drivers in Beijing are so bad: being in charge of a motorised vehicle is a relatively new phenomenon in China after decades of bicycle riding and driving skills taken for granted in other countries are not as easy to come by in Beijing.
In theory, Chinese drivers should be among the best in the world - and the traffic system the safest. We've heard lots about penalty points in Ireland recently and have hailed the fact that the number of road deaths has dropped since their introduction. Well, surprisingly, Beijing has boasted a penalty points system for the past decade.
The system punishes drivers who err for any traffic violation, and, in some cases, this means that they must sit their driving tests again. China's learner drivers must go through a rigorous test before they get their full licence.Even expats must do a special test before being allowed the dubious honour of driving in Beijing.
I have to admit three brief attempts to get a handle on driving in Beijing was enough for me. After all, I decided, I did want to survive my posting there.
So, I left all the driving to my better half, took a back seat - and thanked God after every trip that I had survived.