Indeed.
Getting better all the time. Though, of course, no where to go but up. That said, there are other so called 3rd World countries, and even a few of the 1st, where it is much, much worse.
This thread might have been more fun as a poll … but “retarded” pretty much sums up Taiwanese driving for me.
Reckless!
Unfortunately, one can’t have a poll with 426 options.
Life-shortening.
But good for my kids’ language education. The only time they hear the “good words” from me is when I’m driving… so, educational?
[quote=“asiababy”]Life-shortening.
But good for my kids’ language education. The only time they hear the “good words” from me is when I’m driving… so, educational?[/quote]
Thumbs up on Educational.
Also, Stroke and High Blood Pressure Inducing. 
Oblivious / Horse Blinder-ism…but then again that can sum up most things here
This is one of the worst threads I’ve seen on Forumosa. :no-no:
[quote=“Wai”]
Naturally, but you don’t expect someone to just pull out without looking back home, if they did, any accident would most certainly been seen as their fault. [/quote]
What I’ve found interesting is that because I’m expecting idiocy on the roads here, I’m far less likely to become a victim of it. The imbecile who pulls out without looking back home will indeed cause an accident, and it’ll probably be fatal.
In fact, I hate driving back home now. First of all, after 18 years away, it’s clear to me that people in the UK drive on the wrong side of the road, so it’s already got a point against it. Second, my folks come from North Wales, where it seems that everyone under the age of 40 drives like a complete fucking lunatic. Narrow, meandering country roads full of blind bends and blind hills are generally full of dildos who think that because the sign shows “national speed limit” then they MUST drive at 60 or 70 mph (I still can’t figure out which one applies to a country road), and if at all possible, they should get the front of their cars so close to my rear bumper that a slight tap on the brakes will see them slam right into my ass.
I nearly got killed while driving in Scotland once by some prick in a red vehicle of unknown make, who was passing on a blind bend in the opposite direction to me. Typically narrow Scottish road, with nowhere safe to pass for dozens of miles. If I’d been in Taiwan, I would have been expecting such stupidity. Now I know that I should expect it in the UK too.
It’s been less than 2 months since I had my car repaired/repainted and already someone has done a hit-and-run on it while it was parked. Not only do Taiwanese have no driving skills and no concept of manners, they take no responsibility for their actions (and will seek to shift the blame nearly 100% of the time). Anyone else in favor of caning bad drivers a la Singapore?
[quote=“llary”]This is one of the worst threads I’ve seen on Forumosa. :no-no:[/quote] :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: Deal with the truth…or not!..lol!
Mine is -
SORRY!
Waiting-to-sing-karaoke-in-car-1-hour-later.
Ask police if there is any camera installed around that might recorded the picutre of the time when it happened, and you might make your wish come true.
To compare.
Taiwan: population ca 23,000 000 people 5,000 deaths per year. One in 4600 Taiwanese dies every year in a traffic accident.
Germany: population more than 80,000 000 people and less than 4,000 deaths per year. One in 20 000 Germans
USA: population more than 250,000 000 people and 30,797 death per year in car crashes. One in 8117
Now we should find out what the car density on the roads is. How many cars per mile?
Hamlet - bear in mind that Americans drive to 7-11. They’d probably drive to the toilet if they could. They spend half their lives in their cars, so of course they’re more likely to die in them. Also, have you ever watched a Taiwanese driver make a right/left turn onto a main road? I could change their tyres while they do that. Taiwanese people generally drive very very very slowly, even when the ‘correct’ speed is a lot faster. They’re not stupid - they know perfectly well that nobody is following the rules, not even themselves. So when they hit each other, the result is “just” an injury rather than death (except in the case of grandma or small kid who “doesn’t need a helmet”). The accident rate (I have the stats somewhere) is way higher than the US, even though the death rate isn’t. On top of that, most accidents probably just involve a lot of ‘pai sei’s’ and a discreet exchange of cash. The statisticians never get to hear about it.
:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
Have you ever even BEEN to Taiwan???
:eh:
We’re not talking minor fender-benders here mate… How about real accidents???
Show us the “stats” then!!!
:loco:
I do seem to recall seeing a lot more accidents in general in Taiwan then here in the bay area. MY only wonder is that in view of the numbers of motorcycles on the streets there are not more accidents.
Last figures I got were something to the neighborhood of 10 deaths per day on the roads of Taiwan or right around 4000 per annum. In a country the size of HOlland and with some 23 million people, highly motorized! Are those stats good or bad?
Sorry I think you misinterpreted the numbers I gave you.
One in 4600 Taiwanese dies every year in a traffic accident.
One in 20 000 Germans dies in a traffic accident
One in 8117 American dies in a traffic accident.
That means it is twice as likely to be killed here in Taiwan than in the US
And four times as likely than in Germany.
There are some statistics that figure death per driven mile. And the us statistics only provided car-crash.
The huge number of scooters on the road accounts probably for the highest number of traffic deaths here in Taiwan.
Have you? Stand by the side of the road sometime and just watch carefully. It’s pretty interesting. There are two sorts of drivers on the road. Those who know they can’t drive and putter along way too slowly (it’s terrifying being in the car with one of these while they try to merge onto a freeway) and those who think they can drive and zoom along at a steady 90kph. The classic examples of the former are the excruciatingly-slow-turners and the granny with her feet splayed out ‘in case she loses her balance’. The latter are about 10% of the population and are mostly 15-year-old kids without a license, who for obvious reasons never become adult drivers (those who do make it become taxi drivers). I think they call that ‘Darwinism’.
My ex-gf was rammed into a parked car by a halfwit taxi driver. She’s still alive, but she spent three months with a steel pin in her collarbone and lost an excellent job as a result. Is that a ‘minor fender bender’? Only about 1-2% of accidents result in deaths, statistically. The other victims are left in varous states of disfigurement. Just because everyone usually stays alive doesn’t mean it’s OK to drive like a complete wanker, but that seems to be the attitude most people take - and not just in Taiwan. When someone’s dead, their problems are over. When someone loses both legs, their problems are just beginning.
I know what you meant … I was just saying that death rate per driver is only one statistic, and it can be more informative to look at the others to get the big picture. Even ‘fender benders’ are important because in most cases the participants were just plain lucky. You can stand on any street corner at any time of day, wait for 3-4 hours, and you will see an accident. Fine, it’ll only be two scooters doing something immensely dumb and colliding at 10mph. However, if one is not wearing a helmet and falls badly, or gets a limb trapped, or is travelling a little too fast … something trivial becomes no-so-trivial. A friend-of-a-friend’s granny was knocked off her scooter while stationary. Funny, huh? Not really: since she wasn’t wearing a helmet (granny tradition) she died. My point is, because people get away with their dumbass actions 90% of the time they think what they’re doing must be OK. And then their luck runs out.
I’ll root them out … I’m not too good at filing things! I have a brief paper on the subject somewhere, actually written by a Taiwanese academic …