|
SHOWBIZ> Hot Pot Column
![]() |
|
How my nagging made Shanghai roads safer
By Linda Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-02 10:17 I immediately pounced on my friend, barking at him for his car keys when I soon learnt he planned to drive home at the end of the night. Though I didn't recognize it at the time, I was in fact joining the ranks of Shanghai's traffic cops, the ones who are busy scouring the roads to make sure drivers have a blood-alcohol level of zero, which is required by law in China. It's different than my home city of Toronto, where drivers are legally allowed behind the wheel after a few well-paced drinks - so long as they don't surpass the 0.08 blood-alcohol limit. But in Shanghai, where bar goers consume alcoholic beverages for easily 40 yuan plus per glass, it annoys me when they bring their cars out, especially since taxi rides home within the city core run for less than 30 yuan. That price doesn't even get the meter started in Toronto, or the T-dot as it's fashionably nicknamed. My friend, however, reasoned that he'd been drinking responsibly.
At 185cm and 108kg, my friend is well capable of handling a few modest pours of the world-famous Tennessee whisky, but I was stuck on erring on the side of caution. And so I spent the remainder of the night harassing him - as politely as I could - to leave his car behind and to take a cab home instead. The final peace offering of 30-yuan cab fare eventually paid off when he conceded and hopped into a cab as we departed from the bar. He still gives me a hard time about the "Linda factor". I'm left quite impressed he left his car parked outside the bar that night, though he had to pay the parking fine for failing to pick his car up on time the next day. Most Canucks back home would've shut me up a long time ago and driven home anyway, even if deep down inside they knew it wasn't right. One thing is for sure, the next time we go drinking, I bet he won't be bringing his car - or me. |
南雄市| 宁城县| 瑞丽市| 信宜市| 邓州市| 仙游县| 黄大仙区| 遂宁市| 绥滨县| 格尔木市| 涟源市| 永吉县| 蓬安县| 抚松县| 那曲县| 富阳市| 榕江县| 四平市| 德庆县| 永宁县| 高安市| 岑巩县| 崇礼县| 新余市| 绵阳市| 新营市| 鞍山市| 望城县| 麻江县| 新乐市| 甘南县| 仁怀市| 柯坪县| 香河县| 集贤县| 灌南县| 阳新县| 增城市| 浏阳市| 荆州市| 乐安县|