Uneasy Rider on China's Highways

RYAN PYLE

Traveling in Jiangsu Province with photographer Ryan Pyle, we came across this grim reminder of the nearly 100,000 who die a year on China's roads. The sign says, simply: "Speeding, 3 dead, one injured." The sight didn't seem to affect our driver, who happily kept his foot pressed to the floor and was still passed by cars on both sides of the three lane highway. Lane discipline isn't even a glimmer of an idea, and many drivers seem to regard highways as a chance for slalom practice. And then there are the trucks, overloaded, often ancient, driven by men who earn by the number of trips they make.