“A billion Chinese can’t be wrong” – Keifer Sutherland in Lost Boys
But apparently they can be stuck in traffic, going now for a tenth consecutive day.
A 100 km traffic jam in Beijing continued into day ten Tuesday and is being blamed on a delayed construction project, according to the NY Times.
The state television network CCTV is reporting that the jam is beginning to break up, but remains crowded.
How were these people eating? Did they sleep, only to wake up in the same spot?
Well, one of those questions was answered. People in bicycles came by and made a killing selling food and water to the stranded drivers.
“The sellers come offering to sell water at crazy prices, but if you said ‘no’ or complained about the price they threaten to break your shields,” one driver told The Telegraph.
The freeway was always crowded as it is the road used by tourists to visit the more famous sections of the Great Wall of China, but has apparently become more congested since the discovery of coal reserves in Mongolia.
According to the Guinness World Records, “the longest ever reported (traffic jam) was that which stretched 176 km (109 miles) northwards from Lyon towards Paris, France on 16 February 1980. A record traffic jam of 18 million cars crawling bumper-to-bumper was reported on the East-West German border on 12 April 1990.”
That appears to be worse than this but what remains unclear is the length of the jam itself.
Either way, next time you are stuck in traffic, remember it can always be worse.
Published: Aug 24, 2010 04:19 pm