I’ve never argued it’s safer here. Just that I feel safer myself. My arguement is that more difficult to drive here therefore in some way, safer because drivers who clearly can’t drive here don’t. But I would never ride a scooter here. I drive a car.
And I’m saying it’s just naturally more dangerous here if you make a driving error. Accidents have a higher chance of death with more vehicles, scooters, pedestrians and no where to crash to without harming yourself and others. So of course the number of death is higher. If there was a statistic of deaths per accident, I would bet it’s much higher here.
I like that the test is tougher here. I would like it if it had to be repeated every couple of years or so. Even in the US, I would love to see the test harder. But for a lot of people, all they want to do is pass the test and forget all that safety nonsense.
I am the opposite, probably for the same reasons. I ride a scooter. For me, it is easier to swing out and avoid any of the countless cut-offs, red-light runners, intersection enterers be they car, scooter, bus, or whatever. Even easier to avoid pedestrians. I know I am tempting fate, but I do not live in Taipei so public transportation is not an option, and a bicycle is just a slow moving scooter from a safety standpoint. I refuse to walk with my back to traffic. Anywhere.
Alas, as I mentioned above, arguing traffic here is like arguing about guns in America. No matter how many innocent people die from them, nothing will ever change.