Another Saturday night

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

I ran outside my bar to the scene of an accident two hours ago to discover a motorcyle rider trapped under a late model Mazda with a very low chassis. Just his feet were sticking out from the front. He wasn’t run over by the wheels, the chassis of the car must have slid over his helmet and stopped on his chest. A friend of mine tried to crawl under and dislodge him, but the rider was too tightly pinned at the chest. He checked the rider for a pulse, but there was none.

I was running for my hydraulic jack in my truck just as the ambulances showed up and asked for help to lift the car manually. About six of us managed to get the car high enough so the EMTs could pull him out.

They started CPR and oxygen, but it was apparent by the shape of his chest and the deep grooves left by his clothes on the skin of his chest that there was no way this guy could have been breathing for the 5 minutes or so that he was pinned. It was also obvious that it was too late. There is a hospital 500 meters down the road and they couldn’t revive him either.

Apparently this guy was clipped from behind and his bike spun out into the other lane. He fell off facing the oncoming traffic and was run over by the Mazda. The street outside is two lanes each direction and people tend to drive a bit too fast on that stretch. Didn’t seem like any of the people involved were drinking, but speed could have been a factor.

Tired of seeing dead bodies on the street in Taiwan, just tired.
Ride and drive slowly and carefully, please!

2

That road has always been an accident magnet…And now you get the dubious distinction of being the 2nd Lao wai to witness a fatal accident on that overspeeded stretch of pavement.

Sorry to hear about this… :frowning:

3

I don’t understand this particular bit of local idiocy. I am constantly telling people to slow down in my narrow lane… and most drivers actually are offended when I tell (not ask) them to slow down… I also point out the “slow” sign painted on the lane and the speed bumps… but, the locals take extreme offense.

Its always, “nothing happened, so I am not driving too fast”… This is lunacy and I will never get my head around it.

A few months ago a taxi driver ran a red light (because he was going too fast to stop) and knocked my wife off her bicycle. My wife was shaken, but not injured badly. Her bike was destroyed. Fortunately, the asshole driver was not a second later, or he would have hit the young mother and baby riding the bicycle behind my wife.

This is one of the “little” things that pisses me off about Taiwan and when I do leave it will be partly because I cannot accept this kind of disregard for the safety and well-being of others that is demonstrated daily by basically good people.

I frequently discuss Taiwan traffic with cab drivers and usually there will come a point in the conversation where the driver will agree with me that Taiwanese drivers are poor… but, then he will start to complain that pedestrians crossing at crosswalks ought to walk faster… its at that point that I lay into him and tell him that he is absolutely wrong and that he should use his brain to think more clearly re the matter… I always tell him that perhaps the person walking slowly has an injured leg, or just got out of the hospital… and that in any event, the driver is in a car and he can just fucking wait another 3 seconds before stepping on the gas again…

Yes, its a “little” annoyance, the way folks around here drive. But, for the guy that apparently lost his life in front of Wookie’s place, and for his family and loved one’s, its no small matter.

But, I see no sign of change. People will scream and cry and moan… but, nothing… absolutely nothing will be done to try to make people drive in a more responsible and considerate manner.

Its tragic, really. And stupid.

4

Can somebody explain why it is they look away. Countless times I’ve had some idiot coming at me, collision seemingly imminent, and he turns his head to look somewhere, anywhere, but at me. What? If he doesn’t look at me, I don’t exist? :loco:

5

[quote=“Tigerman”]Its always, “nothing happened, so I am not driving too fast”… This is lunacy and I will never get my head around it.
[/quote]

What I’m about to say here is not going to win me any friends in the long term expat community.

I find it disturbing that I can be driving with or following expats who drive extremely fast through narrow lanes where doors could open or children could run out.

They do this because they have become localised by following other cars all doing the same thing. It doesn’t make it right.

[quote=“Tigerman”] But, I see no sign of change. People will scream and cry and moan… but, nothing… absolutely nothing will be done to try to make people drive in a more responsible and considerate manner.

Its tragic, really. And stupid.[/quote]

The dollar sign will eventually switch the light on here. Not the suffering.
When the government works out that they can save money spent on health care by diverting funds to black spots (traffic light improvement etc) and most importantly through education it will change. The Australian, Victorian goverment is a world leader in this. They have been running an excellent campaign for years.

[quote] World Health Day Road Safety is No Accident An International Royal RoadSafety Award for the prestigious VICROADS campaign in Victoria, AustraliaThe World Health Organisation designated 7 April to road safety. Under the title

6

[quote=“Tigerman”] I am constantly telling people to slow down in my narrow lane… and most drivers actually are offended when I tell (not ask) them to slow down… I also point out the “slow” sign painted on the lane and the speed bumps… but, the locals take extreme offense.
[/quote]

I had a guy stop and get out of his car while I was walking my dog, ready to beat me to a pulp, because I yelled for him to slow down while he raced through the very residential lane my building is on. Just crazy–I really don’t know what the hell is wrong with these drivers. Terrible about what happend to your wife. Grrrrr…

7

Well, my wife was fine… no thanks to the idiot driver.

I now walk my two dogs together and carry a bright red club. My dogs are wimpy as can be, but, they look like vicious beasts.