China Rush Hour (PIC: bus with TV, traffic sings)

Traffic in Beijing is probably what you would expect from a city with 3million vehicles. They rush hours last from 7 to 9am and again from 5-7pm. 

During the Olympics to cut down on air pollution and traffic the government has passed a law that between July 20^th and September 20^th there will be an “Odd-Even Number System”. Vehicles with a license plate ending in a even number can only drive on even numbered days and vehicles with odd numbers can only drive on odd numbered days. This should cut traffic down by half but it has been quested about whether the air quality will really be affected. There has been speculation that a lot of Beijing’s pollution is from industrial cities to the West and regardless of what Beijing does, the pollution will not be that easy to fix.

            My favorite part about the roads, besides the signs that have a giraffe to emphasize an upcoming height limit, is the street intersection signs. I learned from Steve that the signs actually change colors so you can see what upcoming and side road traffic looks like- red means a traffic jam, yellow is slow moving and green means you’re good to go. I was surprised to learn that these signs are computer automated but I was even more amused that about 80% of the public transportation buses in Beijing have TVs with news and Olympic coverage.