I am just asking people to come up with humorous, creative adjectives to describe the third world mentality to driving here…I am not asking for a debate. Thanks.
Some more:
Shameful
Frustrating
Juvenile
Fatalistic
Blinkered
Disorganized
Cowardly
Moronic
Egotistic
Brazen
Are you implying that Taiwan is a third world country? 
[/quote]
Yes that’s exactly what I am implying.[/quote]
Except now you’re not implying it.
Are you implying that Taiwan is a third world country? [/quote]
Yes that’s exactly what I am implying.[/quote]
Except now you’re not implying it.[/quote]
Maybe I should start a new thread on smart asses on Forumosa. Is the implication clear enough there?
They’re not all bad. Today I did see a guy actually stop and look before pulling out and driving directly into the oncoming traffic.
stupid
suicidal
brainless
multitasking
preoccupied
sanctimonious
signally-challenged
unaware
unpredictable
The USA is definitely a 1st world country based on driving habits. It’s those third world Taiwanese who, when cutoff on the road, pull out their guns and start shooting! Taiwanese are animals like that!
god can you imagine if there were anything like us levels of gun ownership here
Mindnumbingly brainless
Incredible
Beyond Insane
All Out War
p.s. gangsters do have guns, its amazing they havent used it (much?) in road rage yet?
Practical
Effective
Polite
Helpful
Defensive
Thoughtful
Intelligent
Independent
Sensible
Forgiving
Considerate
And it works.
I love driving here.
[quote=“grumpy”]I am just asking people to come up with humorous, creative adjectives to describe the third world mentality to driving here…I am not asking for a debate. Thanks.
[/quote]
grumpy
[quote=“grumpy”]Surreal
Dumb
Annoying
Irritating
Combative
Time-wasting
Soul-destroying
Sad
Sick
Nausea-inducing
Zoo-like
Feverish
Immature
Energy-sapping
Demoralizing
Silly[/quote]
[quote=“kaipakati”]Practical
Effective
Polite
Helpful
Defensive
Thoughtful
Intelligent
Independent
Sensible
Forgiving
Considerate
And it works.
I love driving here.[/quote]
Alright man, where are you from?
NERVE-RACKING 
In the FIRST world country where I come from,
people abide by the RULES!
That means, if someone accidentally runs a red light, someone else will plow right through them, because they were breaking the RULEZ. They might both end up dead, but hey, rules are rules, and right is RIGHT!
At a busy give-way intersection or roundabout, cars stay nose to bumper and DONOTGRRRTRYTOPUSHIN, which means when one line of traffic gets dominance, the other poor bastards can be stuck for an hour.
Cyclists, runners, horses, slow vehicles on the edges of the roads are passed at warp speeds without even slowing, because Roads are for DRIVERS dammit!
Aggressive, angry behaviour is common. If you hear a horn, it means someone’s pissed off.
If you see someone stop their car and get out a tire iron, be afraid.
I don’t know what the current road toll is, but ten or fifteen years, ago, we had THE HIGHEST per capita number of road deaths in the world. And PLENTY of rules.
Last time I was there, I pulled over in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, and idled with my indicator on, on the side of a totally deserted street (which would almost pass for four lanes here.) to get my bearings. While I was looking at my map, a car pulled up behind me. The car stopped. Then, rather than just use some of the rest of wide road to go round me, it sat there also, blaring its horn repeatedly into the still evening air. :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: Yep. That’s how I remember the place.
I’ve gone native I’m afraid.
I love the road etiquette here, now that I’ve learnt to understand it and not interpret it from my own frame of reference.
I learnt that a horn almost always means a polite “excuse me I’m coming through”, “did you notice me here?” and is almost never the aggressive signal that I initially believed it to be.
I learnt that it doesn’t really matter WHO has to give way, so long as A someone does, and B the traffic keeps moving. I’ve never met with any aggression, even if I technically break the rules, as long as I follow those two precepts. People appreciate what’s effective.
I’ve learnt to never be pissed off when there’s someone double parked outside the Zi zhu can or bushiban, with the engine running at 6pm on a truly narrow main street and I have to wait a minute or two… Because instead of having to drive in hopeless circles looking for a park when I need to duck into a shop for something, I can do the same thing without fear of retribution.
I’ve learnt to slow down and be patient with slow and unexpected road users - kids on tricycles, paper collectors on overloaded bicycles, motorcycle recycling outfits, rubbish trucks, old people in wheel chairs, runners, dogs, school children wandering home, amah drying her chili crop etc etc etc… Because no-ones’ ever been pissed off at me when I similarly use the road for purposes other than driving a car at speed.
I ALWAYS look before going through an intersection,regardless of what the light says I can do. And on the rare occasion that I have accidentally gone through a red light, I guess the other drivers were looking out for me. No-one’s ever given me the finger, shouted at me, or shaken their fist.
They’ve let me in when I have to change lanes and there’s not an inch of space, even at freeway exits and entries. Daily, someone makes a space for me at our local market roundabout, so the traffic always keeps moving, from every direction, even on the busiest craziest looking days, when traffic passes on any side. Last year, someone had the bright idea to put up traffic lights there. What a cock-up. Long lines of traffic that never used to exist. Thankfully, someone realised the mistake and rectified it. We went back to “chaos” that works.
I’ve seen very very few serious accidents. Especially considering the numbers of people crammed into such a small space and swarming all over the roads. I’ve seen almost no real aggression - I don’t count the mocked up arguments after a scrape. And I haven’t seen the grid locks at rush hour that I’ve seen some places back home.
So, I stand by my adjectives, and I add “self-responsible”.
I agree that road users are not particularly “law abiding” here, if they even know what the road rules are. But they know how to operate self-responsibly in apparent chaos. And I say, when in Rome, do as the Romans…
No point bitching that there’s no place like home.
If you can get over the fact that it’s DIFFERENT and figure out how to work it, can also be quite fun. 
I lived in the US for 23 years a never once did I encounter such cases outside of national media. (And I’ve never seen a gun in public.) I encounter poor Taiwanese driving every time I walk outside, though.
I’ve never encountered anything near what you described in the US. Where are you from?
Where I’m from, we have dedicated bike lanes for cyclists and sidewalks for pedestrians.
Are you implying that Taiwan is a third world country? [/quote]
Yes that’s exactly what I am implying.[/quote]
Except now you’re not implying it.[/quote]
Maybe I should start a new thread on smart asses on Forumosa. Is the implication clear enough there?[/quote]
Yea…you do that hoss. You do that… :eh:
I found traffic conditions far less scary in Australia than here (and I have witnessed plenty of serious accidents here, and been in some minor ones myself, and I’ve also witnessed some pretty selfish and irresponsible behaviour here). However, what you paint is still a false dichotomy. Ever been to Denmark? They have spaces for pedestrians, spaces for cyclists, and spaces for motor vehicles. All respect each other and there’s no insanity. A person can stroll, cycle or drive with complete calmness and safety. At the points where any of the three modes of transport come into contact (i.e. crossing roads), there are set rules for everyone, and everyone obeys them. In the instances where the road does not have signalled crossings, motor vehicles give way to bicycles which give way to pedestrians. Try crossing the road here. I live in what is supposedly a small town in the countryside here. A major road goes through this town. The local elementary school is on that road. Even right in the centre of the town, it’s like an assault course trying to cross the road. As a pedestrian, you’re right at the bottom of the food chain and you’d better get the hell out of the way of the trucks doing 60km+/h coming through the town. How is driving a truck at 60km+/h through a town with an elementary school on the main road responsible? Ever driven along the section of road at the cliffs near Suao? Even Taroko Gorge – which is supposed to be a freakin’ holiday destination – is like a car rally. How about the highway that goes across the north of the island from Xindian to Jaoshi? I used to regularly travel on that. I tried to keep a safe stopping distance, but it was like a grand prix on that road, with people overtaking on the crests of hills, on blind corners, through construction sites and in the rain (sometimes all of the above). That’s fine if they want to kill themselves, but it’s hardly responsible to everyone else who would have a secondary accident if some clown in front had a head-on collision with a vehicle coming the other way. Every time I tried to maintain a safe distance behind the vehicle in front of me, I’d have several scooters jumping in front of me and then ducking in and out in front of me trying to overtake the vehicle I’d originally been trying to maintain a safe distance from, or I’d have cars, trucks and occasionally buses riding their horns or tailgating me. Again, not responsible.
Which Taiwan in an alternate dimension do you live in?
predictably unpredictable
Never really notice it. Must have just got used to it. Lucky for me, as driving here is largely stress-free for me. Although I did rear-end a bus a few weeks ago.
Atrocious
Abominable
Unequivocally detestable
Unpleasant
Pig-headed
Petrifying