I’ve been searching for accurate information on legal changes for >550cc bikes but there’s so much conflicting information even between government sites that I have no idea what’s actually true.
If anyone has researched this before, I would love to know whether or not we are allowed to do the following either right now or at a definite point in the future. If so, please back up your info with a source (not the Taipei Times / Apple Daily - I want something to print out and keep on me in case of meddling policemen). Hopefully we will all then finally know what the real deal is with big bike laws.
using car only lanes
turning left directly
riding expressways
PS - I have been reading on some Chinese biking sites that there is talk of changing the tax system so bikes above 250cc are taxed as if they were cars. Which would be pretty fricken awesome (NT$1800 instead of NT$7200 for me). Anyone have any more information on this?
[quote=“llary”]I’ve been searching for accurate information on legal changes for >550cc bikes but there’s so much conflicting information even between government sites that I have no idea what’s actually true.
If anyone has researched this before, I would love to know whether or not we are allowed to do the following either right now or at a definite point in the future. If so, please back up your info with a source (not the Taipei Times / Apple Daily - I want something to print out and keep on me in case of meddling policemen).
[/quote]
You don’t want to accept hearsay, and you’ve already searched the official government sites and found conflicting information (no surprise here). So, what else are you expecting? Even if you had the law printed out, I wouldn’t think it would be available on a website until implemented (scheduled for 8/11). Anyway, do you really think the average policeman here would take to time to actually read and understand the piece of paper that you’ve handed to him?
P.S. - if you haven’t already done so, you might want to give this a try: motc.gov.tw/hypage.cgi?HYPAGE=law.asp . Browse the draft section as well others – a brief look at the draft document titled "1. 公告日期：96.07.17 公告字號：交路字第09600068511號
預告修正「道路交通安全規則」部分條文 " does include references to >550cc bikes. It’s direct link is: motclaw.motc.gov.tw/attachment/draft/34/34.doc
Cheers Peanut. After scouring even deeper into the Governmental Website Abyss I’m 99.9% sure that the situation is currently as follows:
The Executive Yuan approved - in principal - treating bikes over 550cc as cars for all purposes except travel on freeways.
The Legislative Yuan was supposed to implement relevant regulations by August this year and pass the new rules into law (regulations no doubt along the lines of requiring 4 license plates per bike and enormous orange hats to warn fellow road users).
The LY completely failed to implement the law which has pissed off all of the dealers and riders who bought bikes this year assuming that the law was a done deal for August 2007. As a result there is a mass protest planned this November where hundreds of >550cc riders are going to ride to some legislator’s office using expressways and car lanes. Not sure if this is such a great idea but the LY deserve it for being such a bunch of incompetent backstepping protectionist arseholes.
So given the fine for illegal one-step left turns is NT$600-1200 I’m just going to carry on doing it until the law changes. I figure a few NT$600 fines is better than getting smacked in the side by asshole scooter punks trying to blast past while I try to wedge a 200kg sportsbike into the silly boxes.
Yeh, even the owners of most big bike shops seem to think that the situation still stands as being all go for August. Given that this only applies to >550cc bikes and doesn’t even open up freeways I think it’s a bit bloody unfair to double-back like this. Ho hum.
Oh, So as a Brit I’m a little confused, does highway in Taiwan mean motorway or overpass? In other words does it mean the 110kmph high speed roads or the ugly green monstrosities that were erected above Keelung and Civic Boulevard?
Anywhere you now see signage stating “No Motorcycles. No Scooters.” or words or characters to that effect is what will become open to 550cc+ bikes. Among others, the National roads (edit: excluding toll roads, and also excluding the absurd).
Since I’ve been trying to put off doing any actual work I’ve spent some time scouring through legislation in respect to big bikes.
Essentially the Executive Yuan has said that motorcycles over 550cc should be treated like cars for all purposes except travel on freeways (motorways). This means that we would be able to ride on expressways (快速公路) like the 74 (blue symbols) and go pretty much anywhere cars can go except the toll motorways (flower symbols). It also means that bikes over 550cc should be taxed as cars, but who knows how much of all this will actually get passed into law.
To be honest, I don’t know enough about the legal system to say for sure, but from what I gather the Legislative Yuan is required to pass all of the above into law and regulate it. However, they are free to make the regulations as draconian or ridiculous as they like and a lot of people in the big bike community are afraid that things are not going to be anywhere near as simple as you would expect from reading the initial proposals.
Bearing in mind that Taiwan simply does not produce >550cc motorcycles and suffers a highly protectionist government with lots of fingers in a lot of Kymco and Sym flavoured pies, I sincerely doubt that neither the DPP-controlled Executive Yuan nor KMT-controlled Legislators want to give import bikes any more leeway than absolutely damn necessary. The fun part for the politicians is that by stalling and pushing things back and forth between each other they can withhold important legislation indefinitely with noone taking the blame for actually putting anything in stone. Politics - gotta love it
PS - I already planned to take part in the protest rally with a few Taiwanese buddies but we are going to make a point of riding 100% legally. We almost got a Taichung city copy signed up too but he already chickened out. No matter how stupid the law is I don’t think shoving it to the police and MOTC is going to help our cause in any way whatsoever.
Okay dudes and dudettes, llary has been doing even more research into the upcoming changes. Here are some important points in what is 99.9% certain to be in the final legislation which is sorta certain to come into effect as of 1st December 2007:
Bikes over 550cc displacement are going to be considered as cars for all intents and purposes, except that they will not be allowed on toll freeways.
Bikes 250cc - 549cc will be completely unaffected.
Bikes over 550cc [color=red]will need to affix front and rear license plates. After a lot of opposition to this requirement the Ministry of Transport has said that the front plates are here to stay but we will be allowed to make our own plates from any material (soft or hard) of dimensions 18cm x 8cm, red background, white letters, front facing and placed horizontally or vertically.[/color] The only reason they backtracked on the DIY plate option was that someone finally realised how difficult it was going to be to make a universal front plate for all big bikes on Taiwan’s roads. To be honest, as stupid as this law is, if it means that I can stick letters to my windscreen and have full access to Taiwan’s roads then bring it on. People with naked bikes are going to be less happy about this, I imagine.
Bikes over 550cc will become a [color=red]special class of vehicles that will need to swap yellow plates for white-on-red[/color]. Again I’m kind of okay with this because I’m hoping it will make at least a slight dent in the current ‘what the fuck is a bike doing in MY lane’ attitude to a grudging ‘fucking bikes… but I guess that’s the law… I blame it all on that tosser A-Bian’. Edit: it’s kind of unclear whether the white-on-red applies to the front plate only. I’m guessing the MOTC would be happier that way because they don’t have to spend any money making new plates but still get to inconvenience the riders while pretending that DIY plates are for our benefit.
Here are some other points that are currently not 100% clear but look quite likely:
Owners of large displacement bikes over 550cc will be required to attend a 2-hour safety course/lecture before being allowed on expressways (or possibly before being allowed to exchange for the new red plates… or whatever else they are coming out with on a particular day).
haha, what a joke.
i wanna see the chinese instructor/policeman on his tiny scooter giving 2-hour lessons on the freeway (live exercise) to teach any unfortunate rider safety when all other car-drivers are trying to push them off the road.
safety my ass. in the mrt they can’t install enough speakers to tell me how to use the escalator… what a joke. they have to start somewhere else with that.
but, nothing is useless - it can still serve as a bad example. some day we return to our respective countries or so and have a very interesting story to tell. imagine how the birds flock in at the cocktail parties you will sooo score…
[quote=“Stefan”]haha, what a joke.
i wanna see the Chinese instructor/policeman on his tiny scooter giving 2-hour lessons on the freeway (live exercise) to teach any unfortunate rider safety when all other car-drivers are trying to push them off the road.
safety my ass. in the MRT they can’t install enough speakers to tell me how to use the escalator… what a joke. they have to start somewhere else with that.
but, nothing is useless - it can still serve as a bad example. some day we return to our respective countries or so and have a very interesting story to tell. imagine how the birds flock in at the cocktail parties you will sooo score…[/quote]
I’ve taken the big bike course and all I can say is: think binlang, think sandles, think no helmet and then think 100+ HP at the rear wheel. And that’s just the instructor.
Oh, and the icing on the front plate cake is that there is now confirmation that all plates will have to be sent to the MOTC for validation before they are allowed. Rather than complain about the inconvenience all I can see is the huge potential for mischief there.
And on that note I politely ask the MOTC, National Police Agency and the rest of this backward ‘government’ to please all fuck off.
Yes, you’re right - it’s a printout. The shop tells me that they will be stickers which you can just stick on. Goes fine on the FZ6S there, but I’d like to know where they’d put it on an FZ6N… or the Z1000 I wanna get~
I’m Geri from Singapore, and I’m currently doing some research for a program that I’m producing. I was talking to one of my Taiwanese friends, and she mentioned that large-engine bikes are becoming increasingly popular in Taiwan, especially in the recent years.
There’s been a lot of commotion recently regarding the legislation and laws allowing equal rights to these large-engine bikes, with protests that are being planned and public outcry from the community. I personally find it really interesting to see it all unfold, because to me I see it as more than just a ‘transport issue’, and it offers me an interesting insight into the Taiwanese community.
I’d really love to be able to talk to someone who can provide me with an insiders’ perspective on this whole issue. I would appreciate it if you could leave me a number or an email, so that I can get in touch with you. You can leave me a private message, or email me at geraldinephua@ochrepictures.com and I will get back to you as soon as I can!
you will sooo score…
Not too bad though, definitely not the end of the world for bikers, right?