Good point about the wear and tear, forgot about that in the moment.
And yeah god knows we’d get the “actually less bad but taxed more” treatment, just because 
I’ve ridden a 50cc, 125cc and a 650cc on freeways. 50cc I young and I found it funny… people would just pass, 125cc I was older and there were a lot more large american style pickup trucks and 4wds on Australian roads by then, and it was a little scary. 650cc was good.
Maybe they would have a point if driving habits of those driving cars and trucks creates a danger on freeways.
Well, they’ve got one there. Not that they’ll admit it.
Well the Freeway Bureau did their survey and the news has an article about it from today.
Basically most still oppose full opening but support increased for limited opening of the freeways.
When respondants were asked about opening up low traffic sections of the freeways to “large heavy” motorcycles then the approval numbers shot up to 80.6%, with only 17.6% disapproving, the rest were undecided.
Just under 60% of respondents said they didn’t know the law was already amended to allow “large heavy” motorcycles onto the freeways.
ChatGPT Translation of the article:
Poll Results on Allowing Large Motorcycles on Highways Announced: Over 60% Oppose, But Conditional Trials Gain Support
Around March of this year, Taiwan’s Freeway Bureau (under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications) launched a public opinion survey to once again gauge public attitudes toward allowing large motorcycles on national highways. The survey was conducted via telephone interviews to assess how the public perceives the issue of “motorcycles on freeways.” The Bureau had previously announced that results would be made public by the second half of the year. Today (July 1), the Bureau officially released the results, showing that a majority of respondents are against opening highways to large motorcycles. Many cited concerns over mixed vehicle types leading to increased danger on the roads. However, the Bureau also revealed that over half of respondents support conditional or trial access on specific road sections, provided there is consensus between central and local governments.
Article 92 of the “Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act” was amended in 2011 to allow motorcycles over 550cc to ride on specific sections and during specific times on national highways, as announced by the Freeway Bureau. However, due to divided public opinion on the issue, no specific routes have been officially opened to motorcycles so far. To further understand public sentiment, the Bureau once again conducted a survey this year on the idea of allowing 550cc+ motorcycles on highways. The questionnaire focused on four major topics and targeted citizens aged 18 and over. It was conducted via both landline and mobile phone calls. The survey results were officially released earlier today.
Survey Results:
On the question of whether to allow large motorcycles on national highways:
- Landline survey: 9.3% supported full access, 25% supported conditional access, 60.9% opposed access, and 4.8% gave no clear opinion.
- Mobile phone survey: 10.2% supported full access, 24.2% supported conditional access, 61.5% opposed access, and 4.1% gave no clear opinion.
When combining both data sets:
- 10.3% support full access,
- 24.5% support conditional access,
- 60.7% oppose access,
- 4.5% were undecided.
Support was higher among men than women, and younger people were more in favor of full access, while older respondents were more likely to oppose.
Compared to the 2024 survey (9.6% full support, 24.6% conditional support, 63% opposed), this year’s results show a slight increase in full support and a slight decrease in opposition.
Among those who oppose, many cited concerns that allowing motorcycles over 550cc on highways would result in mixed traffic types, complicating road conditions and raising safety risks. The most cited reason—accounting for 49.7% of all respondents—was that motorcycle riders often fail to follow traffic rules, overtake recklessly, and weave through traffic, creating danger and making car drivers uneasy. Other concerns included:
- Motorcyclists being more vulnerable in accidents (“meat wrapped in iron”),
- The smaller size of motorcycles making them harder to see during lane changes.
Support for Conditional Access:
Interestingly, 24.5% of respondents support conditional access. When presented with the idea of opening low-traffic sections of highways to large motorcycles, 80.6% supported the idea, with only 17.6% opposed and 1.8% undecided. Specific sections with higher support include National Highway 6 and southern sections of National Highway 3, which have lower traffic volumes.
The Bureau indicated that if social consensus and local government support are achieved, it may consider planning trial runs for specific highway sections, and possibly expanding the policy based on the trial outcomes, in line with public opinion.
Awareness and Future Steps:
Although the law was amended to allow motorcycles on certain routes during specific times via official announcements, 58.5% of respondents said they were unaware of this, while 41.5% said they knew. Therefore, the Bureau plans to enhance public awareness of the policy through various channels.
Given the public’s ongoing concerns about safety, the Freeway Bureau emphasized that if motorcycles are eventually allowed on highways, safety assessments and supporting measures will be considered essential and will be actively promoted.
As always, old farts calling the shots and now allowing to change
As can be seen in this thread, a large number don’t even know scooters can ride in the fast/car/my lane on city streets! Can you imagine these physcos seeing a motorcycle on a freeway?!
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Including cops
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they are the ones who most likely don’t actually know
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It sure is interesting how more than 3 years ago the survey they released also said 60% opposed the opening of highways to large heavy motorcycles.
Opposition was higher amongst elderly, those with lower levels of education, the unemployed, and people who were retired.
3yrs. later and they say again 60% still oppose opening of the freeways 
Article from Feb. 2023:
ChatGPT translation:
Latest Poll on Allowing Large Motorcycles on National Highways: Nearly 60% Oppose; Lower Education Levels Correlate with Higher Opposition
The Freeway Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications recently released the results of a public opinion poll regarding the use of national highways by large motorcycles. Although the bureau has conducted similar surveys in previous years, it only recently made the full data available on its website. Surprisingly, the Legislative Yuan approved the conditional use of national highways by large motorcycles as early as 2011 (ROC Year 100), yet over 70% of the public remains unaware of this decision. What disappoints motorcyclists the most is that only 9% of respondents support fully opening national highways to large motorcycles.
According to the Freeway Bureau’s data, 9% of respondents support full access, 26.3% support conditional access, 59.3% oppose any form of access, and 5.4% had no clear opinion.
The bureau noted a clear trend: the older the respondent, the more likely they are to oppose access. Similarly, those with lower levels of education are more likely to oppose the measure. When categorized by occupation, retirees, homemakers, and the unemployed showed the highest opposition rates.
Notably, the poll revealed that a striking 89% of respondents believe that allowing large motorcycles on national highways would raise safety concerns due to mixed traffic between cars and motorcycles. The main concern is that some motorcyclists might not follow traffic rules, such as overtaking irresponsibly or weaving between vehicles, which could lead to accidents and cause anxiety or erratic behavior among car drivers.
In response to the poll results, the Freeway Bureau stated that public concern remains focused on the potential impact on traffic safety and order if large motorcycles are allowed on highways. Additionally, there is still no general consensus that driving habits and law compliance among both car and motorcycle drivers in Taiwan have significantly improved. The bureau recommends continued efforts to enhance public education, traffic awareness campaigns, and driving training and licensing for all road users.
Given the obviously rare sight of a motorcycle or even a white plate scooter on the freeway it is interesting some people while driving will take out their phone and record the motorcycle/scooter to post online. Besides many comments pointing out the driver is being more dangerous by driving with one hand and using their phone with the other (and in some cases driving closer to the motorcycle and not maintaining a safe distance) you typically will see people post the following pictures/memes in the comments:
Top: What’s that black and loud thing? How can it go into town?
Bottom: A motorcycle on the National Highway? Is there no law of the land? I’ll post online to shame you/get you into trouble.
OMG! How come there’s a motorcycle here? I’ll take a video/picture with my phone while I drive!
Before I had someone try to run me down and kept honking at me just for riding in the inner lane (legally) on a provincial highway…still in the city. I was turning left a couple of intersections down the road so I simply moved over into the inner lane to be in position to safely move into the turn lane…same as I would do when I’m driving a car. Another time something similar I just went on the inner lane (legally) since a lot of traffic was moving over to get onto the freeway and I had a guy try to run me down and kept honking at me. All that so he could get into the turn late and wait another 30s for his light while I just kept on going straight.
Even regular city roads with speed limits of 40-50 people treat it like it’s the freeway and the inner lane is only for cars and driving 20-30 over the speed limit…even on a roads littered all over with speed cameras and officers often setting up mobile speed cameras.
One of the most basic and beyond simple traffic rules (even though it’s really stupid) in Taiwan yet a few officers still don’t understand that if there’s no marking banning motorcycles (under 250cc) then of course you can ride on it.
Anyways, here’s some news showing just that:
2025, Hualian. Rider riding in the outer regular lane gets waved down by officers. Their reasoning is…he’s not riding in the motorcycle lane. The guy was on a trip around Taiwan. After it gets shared online of course everyone is mocking the police station. The officer says if there is a motorcycle lane then you can’t ride in a regular traffic lane.
The police station even double’s down and says they were doing it out of concern for the rider’s safety…even though the entire time he was stopped not a single vehicle passed by. The road was empty. Oh and the police officers here got in trouble as the place they stopped to set up a checkpoint is not the designated spot. They were supposed to be 700m further down the road. Still though the police station couldn’t admit that their officers were simply wrong.
2022 Yunlin. Rider is riding in the regular traffic lane (no ban on motorcycles) and is pulled over by officers. Officers tell him he should be in the motorcycle/slow traffic lane. The officer says it’s very dangerous to drive in the regular lane. Of course no violation occurred and the rider was let go.
The officer even pulls out the little handy law book to points out the traffic violation for motorcycles not riding in the appropriate lane i.e. touching the banned lane. It’s a good trap for police and the govt., easy money, especially when you have roads where one section it is okay to ride on the inner lane then the next one suddenly it isn’t.
2018 in Taoyuan. Police pull over a rider for riding on an inner lane that doesn’t have a ban marking for motorcycles. Even so police officers write a ticket anyways. The ticket gets cancelled after the story gets shared around.
2018 Taoyuan. At a red light a police officer pulls up to a rider and tells him he can’t ride on the inner lane. Obviously you can see across the intersection it doesn’t even have a ban marking. The officer says even if there is no marking you still can’t ride in the “fast” lane. Even the damn motorcycle box extends to the inner lane
2017, Tainan. A police officer pulls over a rider for riding in the regular traffic lane. The rider even pulls out his phone to show the google maps street view showing that he obviously is allowed to. The officer still tells him he can’t ride there.
There are a couple more that I can’t find anymore, such as one white plate rider getting pulled over because a group of large heavy motorcycles that he wasn’t even riding with passed before him so police pulled him over and said he can’t ride in the regular lane with the big bikes… 
Anyways, here’s another stupid incident in which a police officer pulls out into the road without looking in front of a guy on a scooter. The guy just dodges into the inner lane…then the officer immediately pulls them over and writes them a ticket for riding in the inner lane. The guy uploads his dashcam footage onto social media and after the story spreads his ticket gets cancelled.
Anyways, here are some psychopaths, probably on the same level as the SanXia kid murderer. Guess what’s more dangerous…riding like a normal person in a normal traffic lane or the inner lane or a crazy person trying to murder you with their car as a weapon.
Volume warning: lady is a screamer.
Lady riding in an outer lane almost gets mowed down by a driver because he is losing his mind saying that she is riding in a lane that bans motorcycles. She wasn’t.
Here’s another one. A dumbass sees a motorcycle in front of him in the inner lane and cuts him off and yells at him.. He’s yelling and screaming saying no motorcycles allowed. Police get called and they tell him he scooters/motorcycles can obviously ride there…what’s the problem…
Another driver tries to hit a rider. Yells at the rider say you can’t dodge? You can ride here?
Another psychopath a couple of weeks ago tries to run a rider off the road. On the cammer’s social media post he even says after police came and he showed them the footage of him almost being run off the road multiple times and being forcibly stopped the officer said both sides did nothing wrong and suggested that he should ride in the motorcycle/slow lane and just use the regular lane for overtaking.
Empty road? Oh shit there’s a scooter in front of me, better turn on my bright lights and hit him…
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So it seems that even if you have a yellow plate etc… the police prefer you ride in the slow lane or scooter lane? I thought riding in scooter lane is illegal?
Edit: oh I see the videos are referring to scooters driving in the inner and outer lanes when there is no banning scooters, and police disputing this.
hey that bike is definitely an fz6. Hell yeah. Represent!
Honestly so fucking anger inducing. The entitlement of these fuckers is incredible. And the disregard for human life even moreso.
Road rage involving threatening actions such as this should result in an instant confiscation of liscense, but I bet all they got was a small fine…
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I found the survey results report the Freeway Bureau did.
I’ll link the PDF here or you can copy and search the report in Google.
All in Chinese
Here’s the link for the 2025 one:
114 年度評估民眾對開放 550c.c.以上大型重型機車行駛國道高速公路意向調查報告: PDF link
Here’s the recommendations(Section 4.2 p.112-113) they make:
ChatGPT translation:
4.2 Recommendations
1. Strengthen public awareness of the policy on allowing large motorcycles on national highways through multiple communication channels.
The results of this survey show a significant increase in the percentage of respondents who stated they “know” the current regulations — from 23.6% in 2024 (Year 113 of the ROC calendar) to 41.5% in 2025 (Year 114), a rise of 17.9 percentage points.
Among those who indicated awareness, most obtained their information through TV news (approximately 38.8% to 45.2%) and online news (approximately 14.5% to 24.4%).
This demonstrates that media coverage has a strong influence on public awareness of the policy. It is recommended that, during future policy implementation, a diverse range of communication platforms (e.g., news media, internet, and social media) be continuously used to promote and disseminate information. This would help improve public understanding and awareness of the policy, and further enhance overall traffic safety awareness.2. Take public concerns about traffic safety seriously as an important reference for future policy planning and supporting measures.
This survey found that more than 85% of the public (landline survey: 86.3%, mobile survey: 86.3%, combined: 85.9%) agreed with the statement that “allowing large motorcycles on national highways raises safety concerns due to mixed traffic with cars and motorcycles.”
Additionally, nearly 60% (landline: 59.7%, mobile: 59.9%, combined: 59.3%) believed it “would lead to more cases of other motorcycles mistakenly entering national highways.”
These results show that public concern about safety remains high. If further plans to allow large motorcycles on national highways are to be pursued, a thorough safety risk assessment should be a prerequisite, and the public’s safety concerns should be carefully considered. Supporting measures should be developed gradually to build trust and strengthen the foundation for successful policy promotion.3. Leverage the trend of improved driving behavior to further deepen traffic safety awareness and behavior education, and promote rational advocacy and a positive public image as a foundation for increasing public support.
The survey found an increase in the percentage of people who agreed (fully or partially) that “driving courtesy and law-abiding behavior among domestic car and large motorcycle drivers has significantly improved” compared to the previous year, while the percentage of disagreement showed a downward trend.
This reflects the effectiveness of past traffic safety education and driver management efforts. In the future, ongoing promotion of traffic safety education and the cultivation of good driving behavior should continue, while taking into account the characteristics of different vehicle drivers to broaden the scope of traffic safety advocacy.
At the same time, large motorcycle riders should be encouraged to participate in public discussions and policy advocacy in a rational and lawful manner, helping to improve the public perception of riders and foster a more favorable social environment for policy advancement.4. If both the public and local governments support allowing large motorcycles on national highways, pilot routes can be planned based on public opinion trends.
Among respondents who supported conditional access, more than 80% supported limiting it to specific sections of the highway (landline: 78.6%, mobile: 81.1%, combined: 80.6%).
Support was especially high for opening National Highway 6 (a horizontal highway) and sections of National Highway 3 in the south with lower traffic volume.
If there is a strong public consensus and support from local governments in the future, it is recommended to plan pilot programs on these routes that already have a strong base of public support.
Based on the results of these trials, the scope of access can then be considered for expansion. A phased, adaptive approach will help build public trust, reduce the risks of policy implementation, and safeguard highway traffic safety for all road users.
Looking at some of the results for 2025 the older respondents, 60 and up, that are most against opening the freeways don’t really use the freeway that much and wouldn’t really be affected as much by motorcycles being on the freeways.
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Respondents 60yrs. and older had 34.2% (p. 167, Table D.2) respond that they use the freeways on the weekdays (not including holidays) on avg. less than once a month in the past year.
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On the weekends and holidays 35.3% of respondants 60 and older on average used the freeways less than once a month (p. 168, Table D.3) with the second most votes going to not using the freeways at all at 17.8%.
This group was also the one’s that had the most respondents responded that they had no idea that the law already passed to allow heavy motorcycles onto the freeways with 67.3% saying they didn’t know (p. 170, Table D.4
One question they ask people if allowing heavy bikes on the freeway would complicate traffic due to the mixing of motorcycles and cars which would then lead to safety concerns. 85.9% agreed with the statement, with 12% saying they don’t agree. (p. 177, Table D12).
Given the regular roads in Taiwan and just how much of a damn mess they are and how much shit you have to look out for and how piss poor the visibility is at the best of times in a lot of places and the total lack of any sidewalks in the majority of the country…yeah the freeway is way simpler. Even when encountering a decent amount of bikers on the freeway every now and then back home I never though anything of it…it’s just another vehicle on the road.
Here’s a video of traffic safety advocate and motorcycle right’s advocate Poem of Biker with pedestrian and transportation safety advocate OwlFuko, riding on the freeway. Nat. Highway 4. Uploaded a couple of days ago.
Also to go back to the point that the number one reason respondents did not support opening the freeways to large heavy bikes is because they don’t follow the rules…maybe we can look at the new SuHua road that originally banned all motorcycles as something to reference.
After a 6 month trial heavy motorcycles made up only 0.4% of traffic violations along the new SuHua highway. 19 cases of speeding and 2 cases of using the emergency lane.
Tainan Mayor says he’s open to the idea of opening National Highways up to heavy motorcycles. Proposes first trialing National Highway 8 then expanding to open National Highway 1 and 3 if things go well.
Since the Freeway Buruea often likes to say it depends on local govt. I wonder what excuse they will try come up with this time.
Main point from the article wiith ChatGPT translation:
Huang Wei-che expressed a positive stance on the issue of allowing large motorcycles on national highways, saying he is “optimistic and supportive.” He pointed out that within Tainan City, there are still unopened vertical national highways such as National Highway 1 and 3, as well as the horizontal National Highway 8. Meanwhile, provincial expressways such as Provincial Highways 61, 84, and 86 are already open to large motorcycles. If empirical evidence shows that the accident rate for large motorcycles is not high, consideration can be given to starting a trial run on the shorter National Highway 8. If that goes smoothly, vertical national highways can then be considered.
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