Traffic jam on Qingming Festival: Chinese drivers collectively reverse for 7 kilometers on highway

As the Qingming Festival approaches, major traffic jams have begun to appear on Chinese highways. Recently, in Guangdong province, some drivers could not bear the congestion and even resorted to collectively reversing their vehicles for 7 kilometers, drawing attention to the issue.

According to the “Huashang Daily” report, on March 30th, mainland netizens posted a video claiming that on the Guangzhou-Kunming Expressway towards Guangzhou, there was a suspected accident causing “vehicles to reverse for 7 kilometers.”

The video footage shared by the netizen shows that the car’s reverse image camera was activated, accompanied by reverse alert beeps, indicating that the vehicle was indeed in reverse. Other vehicles on the highway can also be seen reversing in the video.

Local highway officials responded to the incident by stating that they did not receive any traffic accident reports, and the congestion may be related to the Qingming Festival. There is a larger volume of traffic around the Qingming period. “Currently, the movement of vehicles is relatively slow, with approximately 1 kilometer of slow-moving section.”

The official emphasized, “Reversing and driving against traffic is not allowed on highways. You can only choose the nearest exit to leave. In special circumstances, it depends on how the traffic police judge the situation.”

After the news was exposed, it sparked heated discussions among netizens. Many netizens commented, “Under no circumstances should you reverse. If a faster-moving vehicle comes from behind, aren’t you putting others at risk?” “This kind of behavior should result in permanent revocation of the driver’s license.” “Deduct points.”

Some also questioned, “Why didn’t they just turn around after 7 kilometers?” “What’s the difference between reversing like that and making a U-turn? If they really reversed for 7 kilometers, wouldn’t it be safer to just turn around and drive back?”