An (almost) accident is always so close

… and it’s not always your fault … yesterday when I was exiting our driveway there was this van parked, waiting to pick up some people but so close to the exit and in a non-parking zone that I almost hit a scooter that came speeding past the van without lights, I just hit it by a hair … I could here a tick and then my wife started screaming and yelling paisay, paisay at the woman on the scooter that even didn’t notice she was almost hit … then I told my wife that it wasn’t my fault as first, the van was wrong parked and I had no oversight on the road and second the woman had no lights on, I told her that if taiwanese kept on breaking driving rules there would be many more accidents, that nobody cares in taiwan about this and they are all arsholes … and she should stop paisaying … I gave the van driver a big vocal showdown and then he moved on as if nothing happened … arshole

I yelled “you are stupid” after a motorbike last friday because it was 4 people on it and none used helmet.

Instantly my GF hit me and told me I was not polite witch I replyed “maybe I save a life one day”

I tell hear that I think all Taiwanese drivers are crap and she reply she feel we forigners don’t respect Taiwanese :loco:

How could we :noway:

I don’t mind Taiwanese as long as they are not behind a steering weel :stuck_out_tongue:

Since a few months I have a base-ball bat in my car. Those who do not wear helmets on their scooters know hehe…
Maybe i saved many lifes already, but yes, some got to learn the hard way…

Here is a champain the Norwegian goverment is running to make people use the seatbelt and it has showed results.
The text say “remember seatbelt”

Refering to feelings often show bether results than huge fines.

They shure would nead something like this hear for making people use seatblets, helmets and so on.

I can’t even remember last time I was in the back seat off a car and actulay could find the searbelts or the locks for them.

My GF ask me why and when I tell hear it is for surviving a impact she look at me with a weird look and ask if they help :loco:

Seat belt, helmets and other trafic regulations are only made to make life harder for people.

[quote=“Stian”]
Seat belt, helmets and other trafic regulations are only made to make life harder for people.[/quote]That’s right, and only luck is going to save you. The good news is that you can buy luck. Did you go to the temple today? :laughing:

I had an experience like BP’s last night. I wanted to turn right out of a small lane onto a larger road. The lane was very narrow so it was only possible for one car to pass at a time. A small car, wanting to turn left into the lane had already cut the corner so we were bumper to bumper. Of course if she hadn’t tried to cut the corner she could have seen the whole situation and waited on the other side of the yellow line, but that’s another story. I had another car up my ass so I could not back up even if I wanted to. Seeing this the other car backed up a meter or two (now on the wrong side of the road) to let me out, but then I would have to swing out around her (woman driver) and into oncoming traffic to do so. She could not understand why I wouldn’t do that, even after I explained it to her. “But you have enough room to go, so why you don’t get out of my way?”
“But if I do that and someone hits me, who’s fault is it?”
Silence, then; “You have enough room to go, so why you don’t get out of my way?” :loco:
Some people can only be reeducated via electric shocks or bullets I think. After I took photos of her on the wrong side of the road and made like to call the cops, she decided to leave. In reverse. :idunno:

[quote=“redwagon”]I had an experience like BP’s last night. I wanted to turn right out of a small lane onto a larger road. The lane was very narrow so it was only possible for one car to pass at a time. A small car, wanting to turn left into the lane had already cut the corner so we were bumper to bumper. Of course if she hadn’t tried to cut the corner she could have seen the whole situation and waited on the other side of the yellow line, but that’s another story. I had another car up my ass so I could not back up even if I wanted to. Seeing this the other car backed up a meter or two (now on the wrong side of the road) to let me out, but then I would have to swing out around her (woman driver) and into oncoming traffic to do so. She could not understand why I wouldn’t do that, even after I explained it to her. “But you have enough room to go, so why you don’t get out of my way?”
“But if I do that and someone hits me, who’s fault is it?”
Silence, then; “You have enough room to go, so why you don’t get out of my way?” :loco:
Some people can only be reeducated via electric shocks or bullets I think. After I took photos of her on the wrong side of the road and made like to call the cops, she decided to leave. In reverse. :idunno:[/quote]Apart from the obvious lack of road-sense, I think some people really aren’t confident about basic reversing maneuvers. Perhaps she was afraid that she’d bodge things up even more!

last time i had a close call (about 3 weeks ago)… a scooter was moving over to the left with their left indicator on - clearly going to make a left turn… so i go to pass them on the right… anyways… they start turning left, then realise that they want to turn right, not left… so they just turn right… luckily i managed to swerve out of their way…

[quote=“joesax”]Apart from the obvious lack of road-sense, I think some people really aren’t confident about basic reversing maneuvers. Perhaps she was afraid that she’d bodge things up even more![/quote]I wasn’t asking her to back up, just to move out of the wrong lane. She could have driven around the corner and entered the same area via another lane. I think there was more stubborness than fear in her decision not to do so.

[quote=“joesax”][quote=“redwagon”]I had an experience like BP’s last night. I wanted to turn right out of a small lane onto a larger road. The lane was very narrow so it was only possible for one car to pass at a time. A small car, wanting to turn left into the lane had already cut the corner so we were bumper to bumper. Of course if she hadn’t tried to cut the corner she could have seen the whole situation and waited on the other side of the yellow line, but that’s another story. I had another car up my ass so I could not back up even if I wanted to. Seeing this the other car backed up a meter or two (now on the wrong side of the road) to let me out, but then I would have to swing out around her (woman driver) and into oncoming traffic to do so. She could not understand why I wouldn’t do that, even after I explained it to her. “But you have enough room to go, so why you don’t get out of my way?”
“But if I do that and someone hits me, who’s fault is it?”
Silence, then; “You have enough room to go, so why you don’t get out of my way?” :loco:
Some people can only be reeducated via electric shocks or bullets I think. After I took photos of her on the wrong side of the road and made like to call the cops, she decided to leave. In reverse. :idunno:[/quote]Apart from the obvious lack of road-sense, I think some people really aren’t confident about basic reversing maneuvers. Perhaps she was afraid that she’d bodge things up even more![/quote]

Some? Ha, I think about 95%…On our back entrance road (unsealed) there is about a 150meter stretch that is only wide enough for one. Invariably, I end up face to face with someone here once or twice a week. The resident rule is that whoever is closer to either end yields for the other, but sometimes we end up stopped, staring, waiting for the other to back down. Driving a big SUV helps, but it’s sheer torture watching them weave backwards in reverse…Sometimes it can take them two or three minutes to back up 100meters, and about half the time, they end up in the bushes. On my back entrance road it’s more cheap amusement than anything else, but up on Bei-hun it’s downright terrifying to observe.

How any of them passed the reverse S-turn section of the driving test is beyond me… :unamused:

This is a classic manouever - right up there with driving out of a blind alley at full speed without looking around the corner!

[quote=“x08”]last time i had a close call (about 3 weeks ago)… a scooter was moving over to the left with their left indicator on - clearly going to make a left turn… so i go to pass them on the right… anyways… they start turning left, then realise that they want to turn right, not left… so they just turn right… luckily i managed to swerve out of their way…[/quote]That’s tricky. I never take people’s indicator use seriously. I just take it as a vague indication that they might change direction one way or the other. But once they’ve started turning, they usually carry on turning the same way!

[quote=“MJB”]How any of them passed the reverse S-turn section of the driving test is beyond me… :unamused:[/quote]Well, if people just memorise the amount they need to turn the wheel at a particular point, that doesn’t have much relevance to real driving. In the UK test we have a tricky little reverse parking thing, on real roads with real cars. I guess tests in the US are the same.

However, I take Redwagon’s point that in that case it seemed to be stubbornness.

3 weeks ago I was on the 106 towards Jiufen when a scooter punk came up behind me in a right turn, obviously to overtake me at high speed in the corner without looking if there would be something coming his way. A few others had already overtaken me so I think he tried to pull up to his leader. Do I need to say it? A car came along, just being overtaken by a GSX whose rider was just about to slow down for the next turn. The scooter kid saw him at the last moment, cut in in front of me, the GSX on full brakes. I saw it coming and had already slowed down a bit but his rear wheel still touched my front wheel. Saw myself flying into the bushes already but somehow hit the brakes and came to an almost complete stop on the spot. Remember when I said I can’t do a stoppie with the new brakes? I can. The kid stopped a little ahead of me as well, seeing his mistake (at least) and realised what could have happend. At least i think so. I stopped my bike next to him and yelled in his face “go home” and other stuff i can’t repeat here - clearly he doesn’t belong on the streets. A million things went through my head that I should tell him but that’s wasted energy - he won’t understand anyway. then he started the most annoying thing, the military greeting hand to head solly solly, paisey paisey. I punched him on the nose with carbon fiber knuckles. can’t take that anymore. Switch your brain on or stay at home.

They (Taiwan) should take an example on Belgium … no more manuevers on the examination yard … everything on the road in real time and real live baby. Because people should be able to do them on the road anyware, anytime and not in a controlled environment … that must be fun in Taipei

Don’t be stupid. Even if she hadn’t cut the corner and had seen you she still would have come across the road - blocking off all the traffic in the meantime leaving you minimal space to exit the turning.

Don’t be stupid. Even if she hadn’t cut the corner and had seen you she still would have come across the road - blocking off all the traffic in the meantime leaving you minimal space to exit the turning.[/quote]

Yes, what’s up with that … blocking traffic … they do it all the time here, in the middle of the road they start manuevering to turn around and hindering traffic … instead of driving around the block :s

[quote=“Dangermouse”]
Don’t be stupid. Even if she hadn’t cut the corner and had seen you she still would have come across the road - blocking off all the traffic in the meantime leaving you minimal space to exit the turning.[/quote]Doh. Yep, I was being stupid.

[quote=“belgian pie”]Yes, what’s up with that … blocking traffic … they do it all the time here, in the middle of the road they start manuevering to turn around and hindering traffic … instead of driving around the block :s[/quote]But it’s so much more convienient for them to do it way…

Rule #1: If in doubt, me first.

I showed my girlfriend the cutting corner thing today. I made a left hand turn by cutting across into the oncoming lane first…then hugging the wrong lane while turning left into an alley. I pointed out to her how by doing this I had no view of the lane and if a car were coming we’d have a close call.

Then I showed her the correct method by pulling past the center of the alley while still on the main road in my own lane…and then making a 90 degree turn. Showing her how I was still in my lane and could see 100% of where I wanted to go.

She understood and liked the idea.

In some stores in europe you can buy replica iron gloves from midle age armor, nut I admire you for trying to make a diference :notworthy:

They do it that way in Norway too where you have to drive in everyday trafick and have to do diferent parking manovers and the goverment official is trying he’s best to fool you to turn into street’s rhat is marked do not enter and stuff like that. You also have to have a cource in country road driving for long periods + a snow driving cource and night driving course. The Snow driving cource is good since it works in slipery wer roads too.

My high school had a “driving range” where we learned how to back through a figure 8, parallel park, park on a hill and so on. After mastering the protected driving range area (about 100m x 100m), we then had to go out and replicate all these skills on the roads with real traffic and an instructor who had an extra brake pedal. By the time I got my license on my 16th birthday I was really quite adept at these things. So I really shake my head in bewilderment when I see locals who are utterly incompetent.

Then again, I also see locals with such finely tuned driving skills the likes of which my hometown citizens will never have. They manage driving in such difficult situations at such close distances while avoiding accidents… really amazing.

So IMO the drivers here are, truly, both excellent and awful at the same time! :laughing:

I think this has nothing to do with a driving skils but lack of imagination and responsibility
and disregard for other riders safety.

Most can weave and do some other crazy shit but only few have enough awarness of their surroundings
to make sure that is done safely. Majority is simply chancing their luck every time they try to pull something more aggressive.
This is illustrated by all those close calls.

What I have noticed here in HsinChu where I have a mix of city driving with smaller usualy empty, coutryside roads
is that the same loser driving 30kph an empty and with good view (but narrow) road will transform
into freaking city racer the moment he gets on wider two lane city road.

Same guy who would not drive 20 on a turn where I ride bicycle faster will switch lanes and weave between scooters
like crazy. It is just a twisted sense of what is a real danger: typical example: a guy riding on a center of the road
(leaving 2 meters on the right side) and with no hesitation going through the blind corner that way
but having difficulty pass oncoming car on the stright section of the same road without breaking and swerving right.

Several times I overtook an slow moron on the right side (!) because he left so much space on the right.