The drivers over pedestrian culture on the road is one of the hardest thing to get used to in Taiwan. I have found it worse, along with people being more aggressive in more congested places especially with more scooters. I live in DaAn and it’s not so bad driving around and walking around here. Once I get to more congested places with a lot more scooters I certainly find myself being my assholish with everyone doing the same thing. I don’t have kids but I walk my 2 dogs around and i’ve never had an issue walking in DaAn.
The only issue I have is people not putting their dogs on the leash. One time one dog attacked mine and I had to kick the dog away as he bit my dog and he came after me and I had to kick him away again. I don’t blame the dog, it’s the owner that is responsible. It’s probably the only time here where I was close to losing it and just punching his face in. He was really lucky I had 2 dogs that i’m holding on to or else he would not walked back home. And I was lucky to i guess because It’s probably the most angry i’ve ever been at a single person in my life and I’d probably have been arrested with how badly I wanted to hurt him.
i had no idea they added the road test. That’s good news.
My daughter’s dog HAS to be on a leash. He’s 1 and crazy. He wants to jump on other dogs. If he wasn’t on a leash, he’d be hit by a car in 5 minutes or less.
Yeah, this is true. If there’s less space, it just gets hectic. I don’t think this is exclusive to Taipei though. New York is also like that. The jackassary is more prevalent in Chinatown than it is on the busier part of 5th avenue. Largely due to the difference in width of the road and sidewalks.
That’s pretty racist, man…
There’s also like a cop on every intersection in Midtown (and not Chinatown for those not NY savvy)
Hey, hey, HEY!!!
Get your Quote together!!
Don’t make me call a Mod on you, man.
I’ve never lived in NYC, but do they actually go out of their way to write you a ticket if you make a traffic violation? I always thought they were there to be a something that of a neighborhood watch.
Oh yeah. Got a $200 blocking the box ticket to prove it
A couple of trolling posts were removed. I remove responses (like your post) as a matter of course as they don’t make sense out of context.
They “pretty much give anyone a DL in the States” as opposed to Taiwan where you have to be able to drive in a straight line, reverse around and S bend, and park without hitting the edges.
Is it actually easier in the USA? I’m gobsmacked because, as a limey, I’m used to a pretty challenging driving test.
Yes. I’ve got both US and Taiwan’s DLs before. And in the US it’s pretty damn easy. The test is only hard here because it’s more about learning how to beat the obstacle course rather than real world driving. Which can be a huge challenge for people. In the US most states just hand you a license without even a road test if you enroll in a driving school at 15. You just have to go to classes and drive a certain hours with a instructor and you just get it after the program at school.
No fucking way Andrew. I will totally admit there are bad drivers in the US, hell, everywhere. But the blatant disregard for common sense here is dumbfounding. There is no common courtesy. You can’t honestly say that shooting out of side streets without looking isn’t “bad”. You can’t say that it’s ok to run a red light just because you beep your horn as you do so. I could rant on…
As far as the test, some states are more lax than others, but you have a written test in all and a mandatory road test in most. Driving school? They don’t even teach safe driving practices here. Sure, you can read the regulations, but without behind the wheel drivers training ina real world environmment, you get what you see here. In the states you have to have a clear amount of hours behind he wheel, time in which the instructor will put you in all types of situations. Europe is even stricter, much harder to get licensed (I had a German license years ago). It’s ok to be proud, but call a spade a spade, dude.
All that said, the rules don’t have to be he same as the US, but there should be an attempt to make the roads safer. It all starts with the right education.
I don’t disagree with what you’re saying, there are certainly issues. But for me, asking a question on a road test about should I look left and right before making a turn doesn’t make people safer drivers. But I honestly feel like there are so many bad drivers in the US compared to here. The disregard for rules is real here for sure. But I find some comfort in knowing the guy next to me isn’t a poor driver that couldn’t handle quick decision making situations while driving. I would comfortably say most people driving in th US couldn’t even park a car here successfully.
That’s my only arguement. I’m not saying that it’s perfect here but i am confident many people driving in the Us couldn’t drive here. I’ve known many people visiting that said they could not.
I understand why many of the things here are irritating but like me driving in Italy. I had to get used to the at way people drive there. And I was way more annoyed there than driving in taiwan.
Plus you deal with way more vehicles on average here compared to most of the US in closer spaces. So I would say these things like people darting out without looking exclusively here. It just seems to happen more due to the fact I mentioned. I encountered many of the same problems driving in DC and NY city and LA. Just not as bad without the scooter.
I 100% agree about Italy.
Have you driven there before? I was losing my shit.
I’m not going to disagree with that there are a lot of selfish asshole drivers here. I know it’s true. I get frustrated also, I consider myself a pretty aggressive driver but even I am dumbfounded with how some people drive here often. I guess my point here is that, I at least feel that the majority of drivers here are competent drivers, but I won’t say they are safe drivers. Thats my only point. And yes, the drivers test is absolutely stupid here as well. I went through it myself. But i’m not sure how much teaching drivers safety does if you know what I mean, maybe it’s just me but it seems common sense? People who ignore it ignore it.
To be fair the MOTC have been aware of the limitations of the existing driving test and have pushed through an on-road practical part of the test. Not sure when this is going to be implemented. I’d assume there was/will be considerable opposition from the driving schools.
I get what you’re saying.
First time I went to Rome, I drove. After the first day I was about ready to kill!! Took taxis the rest of that trip and the second visit. At least if they wreck, I don’t have to pay for it 
I think a road test would help. But I think what’s most important is practice with an instructor on the road for a number of hours if they want to really fix bad habits. Install these good driving habits before they even get on the road. It’s too late once they get on the road and everyone drives that way. They’re learn and drive that way also.