My roommate phoned me from the highway on Sunday and asked me to post this. He was driving on the highway with heavy traffic. Doing about 20-30km/hr. And he had all of these black BMWs and Mercs passing him on the shoulder. Many of them had two circular red flashing lights behind the front grill. Are these just mafia? Or are they actually some kind of police or whatnot? I know the highway police drive white BMWs with orange/red stripes all over there car. But it seems odd that so many gangsters would put the exact same red circular lights in their front grill. Government maybe?
The presidental cavalcade… or cavalcade for some diplomat
It could have been a legit precession of cars carrying an important person such as a visiting politician or a local politician for that matter!..Maybe it was the escort for Lee Tung-Hui going to the airport for his trip to Japan???
On the other hand…I’ve seen lots of cowboys(Taichung area drivers) put these police type of lights on their cars so they can go through traffic quicker!..Of course it’s very illegal, but outside of Taipei the law enforcement is not so effecient, so they get away with it!..Have you ever seen the cars with tinted windows and curtains all around exept for the windscreen?..anything is possible around here!
[quote=“TNT”]The presidental cavalcade… or cavalcade for some diplomat[/quote]Senior government officialdom travels by Lincoln, not BMW. More likely they’re a bunch of self-important dirtbags trying to cash in on the gullibility of Joe Average. There used to be a lot of this nonsense, but I haven’t seen much of it in the last five years or so. It’s not much of a coincidence to have more than one of these bozos ripping up the emergency lane at once, birds of a feather and all that…
If they have regular plates, they are regular nobodies.
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I don’t think they all passed him at the same time. I think between Taoyuan to Taipei, in total he had about 10 pass him.
driving on the shoulder is a common occurence.
I drive my gf’s car to Hsinchu every week and when traffic is bad, the shoulder often opens as an extra lane. and yes, I gleefully drive and glide past gobs of traffic.
I was wondering what the police thought until I saw a stream of all sorts and makes of civilian cars streaming along on the shoulder while a striped-white-BMW police car sat silently…
Most likely a motorcade of some kind…
Does anybody remember the good old days when they’d block the entire freeway when some foreign dignitary or presidential motorcade was on the way to the airport?
I used to commute from Taipei to Chungli daily and lost count of the times I’d be hung up on the Chienkuo overpass while police blocked the onramp… :s
I used to have a British Racing Green Rover 800 in the UK and seriously considered putting blue flashing lights in the grill, as that was what the PM and his lot were driven about in.
Never did it though as you’d be crucified if the fuzz caught you.
Normally real big cheeses have a motorbike escort.
The Justice Department has a number of these cars ( I think that is what they’d be called in English). I have a friend who works for them. He calls them the Taiwan version of the FBI. He gets driven around by a driver in one of those cars.
[quote=“hsiadogah”][quote=“TNT”]The presidental cavalcade… or cavalcade for some diplomat[/quote]Senior government officialdom travels by Lincoln, not BMW. More likely they’re a bunch of self-important dirtbags trying to cash in on the gullibility of Joe Average. There used to be a lot of this nonsense, but I haven’t seen much of it in the last five years or so. It’s not much of a coincidence to have more than one of these bozos ripping up the emergency lane at once, birds of a feather and all that…
If they have regular plates, they are regular nobodies.[/quote]
I realize you’ve been here much longer than me, hsiadogah, but I wonder if you’re correct about that. I’ve seen similar processions, sometimes with police posted at intersections, and I assumed it was government people. Surely they don’t all drive Lincolns.
I’ve also seen a few times where lots of policemen are posted all around the Formosa Plastic building (which houses among other things Taiwan’s top local law firm), in anticipation of a special visitor. I assumed they were awaiting either a domestic or foreign govt person or. . . I wondered if someone like Bill Gates would hire a slew of policemen to protect him when he goes to visit his local lawyers to discuss his fair trade problems in Taiwan.
Finally, in Bangkok once I noticed that all traffic had stopped and crowds of people lined the streets, totally silent and showing extreme awe and respect as a motorcade passed. Turns out it was the king. They don’t do that for A-Bian; instead they’re more likely to try to run red lights in the draft of the motorcade.
[quote=“MJB”]Most likely a motorcade of some kind…
Does anybody remember the good old days when they’d block the entire freeway when some foreign dignitary or presidential motorcade was on the way to the airport? [/quote]
I think they still do this for the president and visiting foreign leaders.
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]
I realize you’ve been here much longer than me, hsiadogah, but I wonder if you’re correct about that. I’ve seen similar processions, sometimes with police posted at intersections, and I assumed it was government people. Surely they don’t all drive Lincolns.[/quote]You’re welcome to question 
I may be wrong, but from my experience the top echelon has the Lincolns and will travel with at least one highway patrol car and one large blue van with dark windows. Under that level of VIP-ness it’s a mish mash of brands from Mercedes down to Nissan, but they will not have regular plates on them, and I’ve never seen them travel alone, they will at the very least have an unmarked car full of MPs in tow. They might have either military or other government plates, but never regular ones. You wouldn’t expect them to pay road tax would you?
If you see a car with the lights, and civilian plates, it’s just some jerk-off. If you see a lone official car without escort, it’s probably the help enjoying the perks on the way to or from having it detailed
Members of the legislative Yuan and senior members of local gov. also get to put these lights on thier cars. The cars are not gov. issue, so there are a lot of BMWs and the like.
They also get a free parking pass that lets them park anywhere they want with impunity.
[quote=“Elegua”]Members of the legislative Yuan and senior members of local gov. also get to put these lights on thier cars. The cars are not gov. issue, so there are a lot of BMWs and the like.
They also get a free parking pass that lets them park anywhere they want with impunity.[/quote]Hmm. Well, you may be right. In any case, my MO is to allow those with escorts and special plates to pass, and to simply ignore those with civilian plates on. They can put a megawatt of disco lights on thier cars for all I care, but that doesn’t make me obliged to yield right of way to them. Nor, I’m sure, does it give them the right to drive on the hard shoulder at stupid speeds. 
I’m just going to state again that a lot of regular bozos put the lights on any old dark sedan, because I’ve seen mechanics installing them at various shops, and the owners were only VIPs in thier own minds. YMMV of course. 
[quote=“apm2004”] driving on the shoulder is a common occurence.
I drive my gf’s car to Hsinchu (Xinzhu) every week and when traffic is bad, the shoulder often opens as an extra lane. and yes, I gleefully drive and glide past gobs of traffic.
I was wondering what the police thought until I saw a stream of all sorts and makes of civilian cars streaming along on the shoulder while a striped-white-BMW police car sat silently… [/quote]
This doesn’t bother anyone? When you gleefully cut in line in front of dozens of people who are waiting where they are supposed to, do you ever consider how disrespectful you are being? It’s not a victimless crime either, when you pass on the sholder during heavy traffic sooner or later you have to remerge with the traffic…causing people to slow down to let you in…causing slower moving traffic. The next time I’m waiting in a big line at a restraunt or the train station or somewhere why don’t you try cutting in front of me then when you aren’t hiding in a few thousand pounds of steel. If you tried the ‘cutting in on everyone’ maneuver in America you’d probably get yourself shot.
Cmon, people…just because you live in a third world country doesn’t mean you have to act like a low class human. Most of the people here don’t (just the trash minority does)…so why should we?
[quote=“Mordeth”]
This doesn’t bother anyone?[/quote]There are a few sections where the hard shoulder is legally open to traffic during rush hours to relieve congestion, especially before busy off-ramps. These sections will have signs up in red, just not in English…
And yes, those self-important assholes who do this anywhere and everywhere should die screaming, trapped inside a crushed burning vehicle.
In the UK 12 people died a year on the hard shoulder, that is what happens when fast moving traffic (which shouldn’t be on the hard shoulder) collides with stationary vehicles (which should be on the hard shoulder). That’s why hard shoulder may only be used in a mechanical emergency. Quite obvious really, unless you’re Taiwanese :loco:
Red flashing lights on the front you say, did they look like this ?
A few days ago I’ve seen a taxi with these lights (red and blue)under the hood. Probably an undercover beetlenut agent.
I once was driving my car and I heard a police siren. I looked behind me and there was a police bike coming up fast with it’s lights flashing. I moved over to let him go by easier. As he passed me I saw it was a young guy chewing bing-lang with no helmet on. He had a police siren and police lights…on a majesty. Pissed me off.
Oh, right before leaving for xmas I saw that a lane of the Taishan toll station was blocked by a few stern-looking cops. I did not think further about that at the time, but later when driving down the SYS Freeway, I was passed by a very impressive motorcade - and a few of the BMW’s with the red flashing lights were visible. Official of some kind of another it must certainly be, but it must have been the president based on the number of cars in the motorcade.