Call for DFAT alert on China traffic danger

The Australian - The Nation

Dennis Shanahan, Political editor | July 24, 2008

THE Australian Government has been urged to put out an urgent, red alert for travellers to China during the Olympics.
But unlike normal Foreign Affairs travel advisories which deal with terrorist threats, avian flu, drug busts or earthquakes, this is an urgent request about the dangers of walking in China.

And it's not about the soul-destroying hamstring injury to Australia's gold-medal walking hope, Nathan Deakes, but simply about crossing the street in Beijing or Shanghai.

Alarmed by the hair-raising traffic tactics of Chinese motorists, motorcyclists and bus drivers who take the “little green man” as a sign to tear through pedestrian crowds, the Pedestrian Council of Australia has appealed to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith to issue an urgent DFAT travel advisory “to avoid Australians being killed or injured in road crashes in China”.

Council chairman Harold Scruby told the Foreign Minister in a letter that there had been “a huge focus and funding for terrorism” threats, and the real threat to road safety was being ignored.

Mr Scruby has already appealed to the International Olympic Committee and the Australian Olympic Committee over his concerns about pedestrian safety in China.

Mr Scruby told The Australian it was far more likely an Australian Olympic tourist or competitor would be killed by a bus than a terrorist in Beijing.

“We should remember that at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 an African competitor was killed crossing the road in Penrith,” Mr Scruby said.

The African athlete had only been in Australia 47 hours when he was killed crossing the road.

Mr Scruby told Mr Smith “most Australians are used to crossing the road in an environment where vehicles are driven on the left”.

But he said it wasn't just traffic coming from a different direction, which had been a problem for tourists during the Sydney Olympics when the Pedestrian Council helped paint warning signs to “Look Left” and “Look right”, but a disregard for traffic lights and pedestrian crossings all through China.

In China recently, Mr Scruby filmed buses and trucks going through red lights and stranding pedestrians in the middle of traffic.

“You will see scores of examples of motorists driving through red lights (while pedestrian lights are on green) while police and traffic wardens stand by and do absolutely nothing,” Mr Scruby told Mr Smith.

Mr Scruby said the driving in Chinese cities was potentially lethal and that “motorists generally treat pedestrians with utter contempt”.

Mr Smith's office has received the appeal and Mr Smith is currently in Singapore.

It was that way in the 60's in Hong King when I visited.  Navy warned everyone to run if you saw a car coming your way.

Ugly scenes as Beijingers snap up last Olympic tickets       
Jul 25 05:27 AM US/Eastern
     
Breitbart.com

          Violence broke out on Friday among the more than 50,000 people who queued to grab the last batch of Olympic tickets on sale in Beijing, as police struggled to control the frustrated fans.

The mood was tense and strained as angry people -- some of whom had been queuing for two days -- jostled to maintain or improve their place in the long line.

At one point the surging crowd broke through a control barrier and lurched towards the ticket counters.

In hot and dusty conditions, some groups in the crowd chanted insults at the police who were seen dragging people out of the line and kicking and punching them before leading them away.

"The police didn't have a clue how many people would come here and there was no organisation at all, it was chaos," said Wang Zhongliang, a delivery worker for UPS.

It was the last chance for Chinese to buy tickets for the Games, with 250,000 on sale at several locations in Beijing from 9:00am (0100 GMT) for events including athletics, diving, and gymnastics.

Demand was so high that more than 10,000 people were in the line by Thursday at one of the main ticket selling centres near the Olympic Stadium, district police chief Xiong Xingguo said.

By early Friday huge reinforcements of police were moved in to maintain order as numbers ballooned to between 40,000 and 50,000, Xiong said.

Xiong conceded that police had been taken by surprise by the numbers.

"The situation was chaotic and difficult," he said. "Once the newspapers released the news about the ticket sale, too many people came at once so we had a security problem."

A Hong Kong journalist was detained by police on Friday while covering the chaotic scenes, organisers and an AFP witness said.

Despite the pushing, jostling and discomfort, Xu Wengang, an information technology expert, said that he thought the method of ticket sales was fair.

"This way everybody gets a chance. But that's also the problem, because so many people came. It's a lot of trouble but it's fair," said Xu, 30, looking for tickets for the synchronised swimming.

There were smiles too from people like 23-year-old Lei Peng, who had slept on the footpath for two nights.

The engineering graduate from eastern China's Anhui province was close to the head of one massive queue and managed to score two seats to one of the hottest event of the Games -- the final of the men's 110m hurdles.

Chinese hopes for an athletics gold medal rest on Olympic and world champion Liu Xiang who is defending his 110m hurdles title.

"It was hard but worth it," said Lei, who had been queuing since midday on Wednesday.

Han Ruxiang, 76, had spent two nights sleeping on a bamboo mat so that he and his 67-year-old wife could see the finals of the diving competition.

"How can you be Chinese and not go to the Olympics when it is in China?" he said. "I am tired but so happy."

Unlike Han, others were not prepared to queue for themselves.

Ding Ye, 27, said she had got two tickets for the diving competition for her boss who runs a food supply company.

"He sent me in his place," she said.

There is a flourishing black market in selling tickets at a massive profit, even though scalping has been outlawed. Police have arrested 60 touts over the past two months, according to state media reports.

Outside Beijing, 570,000 tickets for football matches went on sale in football competition host cities Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang.

Altogether around seven million tickets were up for sale for the Games, with around 75 percent going to China's vast domestic audience, with the rest made available overseas through each country's National Olympic Committee.

Friday's release of tickets was the fourth and final round of sales for the August 8-24 Games.

Beijing smog persists with Games just around corner      
Jul 25 01:26 PM US/Eastern
Breitbart

Smog Remains as Olympics Loom Despite Chinese Efforts to Clear the Air

          Beijing was swathed in smog on Friday just two weeks ahead of the Olympics as its notorious pollution defied aggressive steps aimed at clearing the air for next month's Games.

However, Chinese officials brushed off concerns over the city's stubborn smog, which has triggered a warning by IOC chief Jacques Rogge that some events could be postponed if air quality is poor.

"Sometimes it looks like it's a foggy day, but the air quality is actually good," Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee, told AFP.

"Our confidence is based on our 10 years of effort (to clean up the air). We are now implementing a continued plan to ensure clear air during the Olympics."

Chinese officials routinely refer to the city's smog as "fog".

Friday's smog came despite a broad last-ditch campaign kicked off last weekend to reduce air pollution by closing factories and banning more than a million cars.

Beginning on Sunday, cars with odd and even number plates are allowed on streets only on alternate days. Beijing had earlier taken 300,000 heavily-polluting vehicles off the road.

The city experienced a few days of air quality this week that was better than usual, raising hopes that the measures were working.

But by Wednesday, the familiar grey cloak had re-emerged and on Friday the air pollution index in the city averaged 130, or "light pollution."

By comparison, it stood at around 65, or "good" last Sunday, the first day of the driving restrictions.

Du Shaozhong, deputy head of the Beijing Environmental Protection Department, told reporters on Friday that major air pollutants emitted by cars, such as carbon dioxide, had dropped by 20 percent from July 1 to Friday.

He said the city had seen 22 "blue sky" days during that period, two more than the same same stretch last year.

Pollution is a major threat to the August 8-24 Games and Rogge warned last year that poor air quality during the Games could result in the suspension of some events, particularly endurance races such as the marathon.

Haile Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian marathon record-holder, has already pulled out of the Beijing race over fears the pollution could affect his asthma.

Who is crazy enough to go to China?

Why did the Olympic Committee even put this in Beijing...make everyone think China are good guys?

What a joke!

Terror Attacks Threatened During Beijing Olympics - Turkestan Islamic Party ‘ETIM’

It is far more likely the attack will be on a less fortified target than the Olympics. One too many 24 hours cable series mentality plot lines. The bad guys actually have considerable resources and intelligence, and are not cartoon characters herding goats. They have some of the most sophisticated germ warfare weapons and scientists gleaned from the crumbling Soviet Union, Pakistan, and working in North Korea.

China is not the owner for hair club for men, they are a client. Just as Pakistan sells nuclear technology to North Korea and Russia lays pipelines to direct connect to Iran oil, it is really improbable that they would target their best customers and potential technology benefactors. One hundred centrifuges in Iran can't be wrong.

The action is not in, or probably will not be at the Olympics. Too protected, too publicized, when they could creep into a totally weak area i.e. as they did in U.K. in the tubes during the conventons, and cause a lot of trouble.

Expect the unexpected, and these are scientists, not goat herders.

When was the last truly large scale event actually attacked by terrorists. In fact, how many actual attacks have their been in the Western world in the last 10 years?

If a large number of people expect something to happen at a certain location, it probably won't. IMHO. They will pick a out of the way target with lots of people for maximum collateral damage, giving them every bit of bang for their buck as the Olympics.

Just an opinion.

Medclinician

   China hit by new earthquake ahead of Olympics

    * Story Highlights
    * NEW: A 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes China's Sichuan province
    * NEW: Quake hits hours after Olympic torch relay visits Sichuan's capital
    * There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries
    

Drudge Report


China Locks Down City After Attack; Journalists Detained...
'Guarantees' safe Games...
300,000 surveillance cameras...
Smog worries athletes...