Chinese Car drivers block Fire Engine in Beijing.

[Harry Potter]

Outrage over video of blocked fire engine in China.

(AFP) – 1 day ago

BEIJING — A short film showing car drivers in Beijing refusing to give way to a fire engine has gone viral online and renewed concern over increasingly selfish behaviour patterns in fast-developing China.

The amateur video -- filmed on Thursday in an area of Beijing where a noodle restaurant was on fire -- has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of web users and has been widely featured in newspapers and on television.

It shows a fire engine attempting to get through traffic -- sirens and flashing lights on -- but none of the cars make way and some even pull over in front of the vehicle, blocking its way.

Later, other cars blocking the road refuse to make way by doing a u-turn when they clearly have the opportunity to do so, and the fire engine stays stuck in traffic -- a scene not unusual in Beijing.

The video, which has already been viewed more than 1.2 million times on 北京簋街消防车遭抢行 实拍外国如何给消防让路 - 东直门簋街着火,首堵不但不让行,还往里并! - 视频 - 优酷视频 - 在线观看, has sparked strong indignation and concern over the "selfishness" of China's drivers.

"The 5,000 years of history and civilisation of our heavenly dynasty," one web user named Kuandiangeiwo wrote ironically.

"If one person doesn't give way it's a moral shortcoming, but if two people don't make way it's the sorrow of the community," another said.

Online users have even posted videos filmed in Germany or Russia showing cars pulling over on roads and highways to make way for emergency vehicles, in a bid to illustrate what happens in other countries.

There has been much soul-searching in China about a perceived rise in selfish behaviour after footage from a security camera showing people ignoring a toddler lying in the road unconscious and bleeding shocked the country.

The two-year-old Yue Yue later died in hospital, and the incident in October sparked strong condemnation and concern that China's rapid development and urbanisation has seen people lose their sense of shared values.
AFP.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i8igU3TTlhuvVd-VGbpfALKXyD4A?docId=CNG.ba22784ccf155b11c77e1624e0 8c58fc.221

 

[Zabaniyah]

Crazy behavior.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Firefighters are technically classified as military police. Therefore, they should be given more power to do their duties as military police, to make arrests.

 

[Dhruv V Singh]

Unfortunately this is quite common in India too.

 

[Patriot]

Unfortunately this is quite common in India too.

In Pakistan too - I have seen people trying to overtake Ambulances!I always move my car to 2nd lane to give way to Ambulance but i have seen jerks trying to race with Ambulance ( True Story).

 

[Zabaniyah]

This issue is also there in my country.

Solution: Escort the fire service with these:

Problem solved

 

[lynx]

^^ Whats a radar gonna do?

 

[Zabaniyah]

^^ Whats a radar gonna do?

It's not a radar

Active Denial System - Military

The truck I posted is the ADS 2.
Pentagon gets heat ray, version 2 | News Blogs - CNET News

 

[nvKyleBrown]

I know, old thread. But firefighters have problems the world over:
Firefighter handcuffed by CHP officer at accident scene speaks out - 10News.com KGTV ABC10 San Diego

 

[Kolaps]

Barbaric Communist!

Disgusting!

Shameful!

A Deep Stain in 5000+ years of Chinese Civilization.

 

[Okemos]

Barbaric Communist!

Disgusting!

Shameful!

A Deep Stain in 5000+ years of Chinese Civilization.

What can you expect when the leadership was rising from bottom of society and the government has educated its citizens that lowest class of society are the loveliest while in fact most of them are just lazy scumbags. In traditional Confucius society, we had 士 to aspire to. After 1949, ordinary citizens have nobody to look up to because they believe they are the best and all their behaviors are just natural. In such environment, of course, the moral values are no longer being respected and a traditional Confucius scholar from the past would probably be mocked by today's Chinese as hypocritical.

I am really worried that future generations will probably conclude that China is no longer a continuous civilization just like other ancient civilizations fell.