The only thing I agree with is when you talked about central dividers, the rest I don’t. Whenever I see a central divider, I’m so happy.
Time to crank up the speed and feel safe knowing that some guy in the other lane isn’t going to ruin you day going into you lane for
whatever reason or going to U-turn on you. Otherwise, if there isn’t a divider, expect someone going into your lane, because it’s going
to happen whether you like it or not.
I know for some of you, it’s really wrong to speed. I would agree with you if, when you speed you don’t care about anyone else around
you, but I know I and others here do. I really don’t understand how Taiwanese people don’t know when it’s safe and when it’s not. It’s
like babies running around and bumping into each other and not understanding why they bumped into each other, but these people on
the road that are doing this are (usually) 18+ years old.
That’s a terrible road and not just because of speeding bikes, I once had a speeding truck on my ass on that road when I needed to turn around and that was nuts.
People can speed somewhere else like a trackway or something, that shit would be cut out quickly in any civilized place and is EXACTLY why heavy motorbikes were banned here for so long.
When you speed , especially in groups, you do say you don’t care about anybody else because the chance of you causing a serious accident increases exponentially. It’s also noisy and hassle that people want to have in their neighbourhood. You are not bringing anything to society, just selfishly taking away.
The numbers of people doing it along with their lack of driving skills and concern for others means THEY should be run off the road not the other way around.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]That’s a terrible road and not just because of speeding bikes, I once had a speeding truck on my ass on that road when I needed to turn around and that was nuts.
People can speed somewhere else like a trackway or something, that shit would be cut out quickly in any civilized place and is EXACTLY why heavy motorbikes were banned here for so long.
When you speed , especially in groups, you do say you don’t care about anybody else because the chance of you causing a serious accident increases exponentially. It’s also noisy and hassle that people want to have in their neighbourhood. You are not bringing anything to society, just selfishly taking away.
The numbers of people doing it along with their lack of driving skills and concern for others means THEY should be run off the road not the other way around.[/quote]
It’s an age thing. Most young people don’t really care about much else than themselves. If I was 20 years younger, I would probably ride with them on a hot, fast, and noisy bike. So it should be the responsibility of the authorities to reign them in. People in their 20’s + bikes doing 200mph + windy mountain road = nasty accidents. I guess we have to wait for some very serious fatal crashes before the government does something. Maybe the government thought about rich guys in their 40’s cruising on their Harleys when making heavy bike riding legal, and in the beginning those where the typical bike riders, but now there are a lot of young guns racing around.
[quote=“jesus80”][quote=“hannes”]
People in their 20’s +
bikes doing 200mph + windy mountain road = nasty accidents.[/quote]
Not in that road. Not even in Taiwan, I’d say.[/quote]
I meant “people riding bikes that are designed to go that fast”. OK, make it 200km/h. Of course people are not riding that fast on Taiwan’s roads, but who buys an expensive fast bike and never tries to see how fast it can go?
In my opinion is just a matter of implementing the rules by the police. How many times we see people passing with the red light? Basically at every single traffic light, all the time! If they would start to put a fine of 10,000 for that you will see nobody will ever do it again. Crazy kids going fast is something that happens eveywhere; here is even more evident because every single kid has a scooter, is just a matter of numbers. A good rule would be maybe to declare illegal the modification of a scooter; this way you will see a lot less kids killing themselves. Or maybe allow kids to have a scooter only when they are 18 years old and HOPEFULLY a little more mature…don’t know, just ideas
I’m interested in doing a scooter ride from Xindian to Pinglin, but this thread has made me a little nervous… if I go I would be going during the week - people mentioned that the weekend is too busy & dangerous.
I have a few questions and any feedback would be appreciated.
What’s so nice about this road? I imagine, mountain views, turns in the road and general country-side make it an interesting ride?
Is it quiet during the weekdays or still quite busy?
Anywhere interesting to stop along the way or in Pinglin?
Any advice on the swimming spot in the river?
Cheers!
It’s a nice winding road over the mountains and back down into Pinglin hills and valley area. There are some scenic viewing spots along the route. After you come down into the Pinglin area but before you enter Pinglin there is a nature reserve area to the right , take the road into it and there is a river which you follow along there with numerous spots that you could jump in at, it’s clean and well looked after, you can see fish swimming there too. There are also bikes for rent, it will be pretty deserted on weekdays.
The Pinglin area has nice tea farms and there is a tea museum etc, worth a scoot around too.
Back to the highway 9. There are always trucks driving that route from Ilan and you should always be careful but it is far better on the weekdays than weekends!
[quote=“vitalpenghu”]I’m interested in doing a scooter ride from Xindian to Pinglin, but this thread has made me a little nervous… if I go I would be going during the week - people mentioned that the weekend is too busy & dangerous.
I have a few questions and any feedback would be appreciated.
What’s so nice about this road? I imagine, mountain views, turns in the road and general country-side make it an interesting ride? - Lots of curves and some rects make it interesting. It’s also a place where to meet many riders making crazy and stupid things, like training their leaning skills in blind curves, which is beautiful to see, yet annoying if you’re also on the same place
Is it quiet during the weekdays or still quite busy? - You will find it a nice place to ride, not so many people, but still some trucks and other riders
Anywhere interesting to stop along the way or in Pinglin? - There’s a divertion to PingXi that it’s likable, then the riverside and the water reservoir are nice stops. There’s also a couple of hills famous for tea. Nice, but not sure if worthwhile.
Any advice on the swimming spot in the river? - No. Well… can you swim? besides, there could be some restricted areas where you are supposed to not to enter…
Cheers! - Cheers and… you can check also the mountain road that goes from DaXi (more in the north than Wa’iao beach) to PingXi. A way more slow ride, but interesting. There’s also a place where you can stop for swimming and a weird temple very different from others. [/quote]
OK, I have added a couple of swimming holes on the map. I prefer the first one. You need to cross over the low weir. The best swimming is in the tributary on the other side.
