I was riding my Ninja back from work. And when I got to the expressway I noticed it was a bit busy (Friday night), but decided to go up it anyway. I worked my way through the cars on it slowly and noticed a car trying to keep up…but didn’t think much of it. I take my exit ramp and the car follows and is a little bit close which worries me. I get to the first intersection off of the expressway and turn right (on a red) and then pass quite a few cars in the scooter lane. I get to the next intersection…it’s a red light (and I wanna go straight)…so I pull up to the front and stop.
The cops who I guess were chasing me come from behind in the oncoming lane…and block me off. They jump out maybe expecting me to run…I don’t. I turn off the bike and push it to the side. Conversation went something like this:
Cop: You were riding on an expressway
Me: Yeah, but there’s that new law big bikes will be allowed on there soon
Cop: But not yet.
Me: I know, soon… It’s safer for me to ride up there.
Cop: Safer? It’s dangerous.
Me: You ever ridden under it? Small intersections, people running lights, stray dogs, potholes…it’s much safer on top. There are no intersecting roads on top…much safer.
Cop: I have a big bike too.
Me: Oh? What kind?
Cop: …uhh…mmm…you wouldn’t have heard of it.
Me: Oh, err…ok.
Cop: Well, you can go…but don’t ride on the expressway anymore.
Me: Well…you mean until after that law finishes going through.
Cop: Err, yeah…until then don’t.
That was pretty much it. I was surprised that after all the trouble chasing me they didn’t bother giving me a ticket. Plus I can think of at least 4 different things they could’ve ticketed me for. Odd.
I hear that…I’ve been saying that for awhile now. “What do I love about Taiwan? The freedom in having no police. What do I hate about Taiwan? The dangers of having no police.”
Plasmatron and I got pulled over a few months back on a coastal expressway between Tainan and Taichung. We were the only 2 vehicles on that expressway at that time…that freeway is always very light on traffic…anyways, it was long straight strech of expressway and we could see that up ahead was a cop car doing a Sunday drice on the expressway at 40km/h…Plasma passed the cop car at a steady 60km/h just to make sure there wouldn’t be any problems…but, as soon as he passed I saw a huge puff of smoke come from the car’s exhaust which indicated that the driver was going for it and the transmission “kicked down” a few gears…(well maintained cop car eh?)…anyways, the lights didn’t come on and instead it was an arm that came out and pointed to the side of the road…I was riding behind and from my angle, it really looked like something out of an American cop chase video…the cops were all panicking while we were just cruising…funny stuff…
The cops ended up telling us to drive slowly…(60km/h is quite slow already.)…and of course, we smiled and agreed with them…and then came apologies from both patrol officers, even the one with a mouth full of binlang and missing teeth…How confusing can this kind of experience be when you come from a place like Canada?..
Got pulled over twice on the freeway with my old NSR last summer.
The first time I was leaving Kaohsiung toward Tainan and I took the wrong ramp. Ended up on the freeway. It lasted about ten minutes, I think truckers radioed the cops. Not sure but many truckers were honking at me. Wasn’t because I was slowing anyone down for sure…
The second time was leaving Tapei. I got lost solid and became very frustrated after trying to leave the city for like an hour. I spotted the ramp for the expressway going south and thought “screw this I want to get home”. I made it for about one hour this time and covered a large distance in that time. Probably equivalent to 2 hours on a smaller road.
Both times I politely pulled over when requested to do so and all I got was a warning. Both times they escorted me off the freeway and even helped me with direction to get to the legal road I needed.
Freeway is far safer indeed and soooo much faster. I think we’ll see a few more big bikes down in Kaohsiung with Tapei licences (and vice versa) once this new law finally kicks in.
In my last incarnation as a clueless learner motorcyclist (late 70’s Scotland) I used to quite often, especially in bad conditions such as heavy rain, remove my L-plates and use the motorway (equivalent to the freeway here except its free, and the freeway here isnt) on my 50cc bike.
I did this out of self-preservation, because even with an illegally small 50cc machine (albeit a relatively fast one) the motorway was clearly safer, even in the UK. I often passed traffic cops parked on their “launch/observation pyramids”. None ever bothered to go after me. The bike (Honda SS50 “Supersport”) perhaps looked bigger than a 50 so its possible they didn’t realise, plus it was usually raining. Or maybe they were cutting me some slack. Dunno.
Running under that coastal expressway on the Zing was clearly MUCH more dangerous than on top, since its a series of blind (tunnel) intersections with purely nominal priority in your favor.
So should they stop at 600cc? Would it be a net safety gain if they opened expressways to 250’s, or 150’s, 125’s, 100’s? (OK, not 50’s). Certainly it’d be more stressful for car drivers, but would it be safer overall?
fun… no too many cameras and patrol cars to make it any fun… and cruising along at legal speeds on a long, straight road with no intersections is just plain boring…
tho, on the topic of how many cc’s should be ok~ i’d like my 250 to be allowed… considering the ridiculous tax that i paid when purchasing it… i should be allowed too…
fun… no too many cameras and patrol cars to make it any fun… and cruising along at legal speeds on a long, straight road with no intersections is just plain boring…
tho, on the topic of how many cc’s should be ok~ I’d like my 250 to be allowed… considering the ridiculous tax that i paid when purchasing it… I should be allowed too…[/quote]
I’ve done 220-240 almost everytime I go on them during the day (not at night). And I’ve reached 274 (on the speedo) and held it there for a bit on them as well…saw some cameras but never got a ticket. Most of the cameras don’t work from my experience.
Now if you’ll excuse me…I have to go duck behind my flame resistant shield that I put up before posting this.
Some friends have tested the theory that above a certain speed the cameras cannot get a clear enough shot of the plate to make the number out. According to them it’s 250kph. Not that I would advise anyone to repeat this test of course.
As to the cameras working and not working, I was told by a cop friend (he manages the cameras) that they a lot more steel boxes on poles than actual cameras. While they do plan to have an equal number of both, in the meantime they are playing a kind of shell game with them. The boxes stay put, but they don’t always have a working camera in them. It makes things more fun. Oh, and they still use old-fashioned film, so that runs out pretty quickly and it can take a while to get around to replacing it.
Most of the fixed ones are empty now. However, they’ve been replaced by little mobile ones that sit on a tripod. I’ve even seen these stuffed into an emergency phone box. All the more convenient for someone who really has an emergency and needs to use the phone.
Mobile ones? So they can move their position around? Would those be legal? I thought for it to be legal you needed someone to survey the area first…and then you needed the camera in a bright yellow box…plus I’m guessing the warning signs aren’t a courtesy…I’m guessing that they are required by law before the camera. But Mobile ones wouldn’t have the sign.
fun… no too many cameras and patrol cars to make it any fun… and cruising along at legal speeds on a long, straight road with no intersections is just plain boring…
tho, on the topic of how many cc’s should be ok~ I’d like my 250 to be allowed… considering the ridiculous tax that i paid when purchasing it… I should be allowed too…[/quote]
I’ve done 220-240 almost everytime I go on them during the day (not at night). And I’ve reached 274 (on the speedo) and held it there for a bit on them as well…saw some cameras but never got a ticket. Most of the cameras don’t work from my experience.
Now if you’ll excuse me…I have to go duck behind my flame resistant shield that I put up before posting this.[/quote]
I was just wondering how much the fine would be for doing 220-240 or 274?
I hear that…I’ve been saying that for awhile now. “What do I love about Taiwan? The freedom in having no police. What do I hate about Taiwan? The dangers of having no police.”[/quote]
So the cop could actually speak English or were you speaking Chinese? I would assume if the cop could actually communicate with you he’d give you a ticket. but the papre work is alot more if its a foriegner. Do you have a licence for your bike, usuallya cop asks for a licence if you don’t have it he’ll give you a NT60,000 fine
I hear that…I’ve been saying that for awhile now. “What do I love about Taiwan? The freedom in having no police. What do I hate about Taiwan? The dangers of having no police.”[/quote]
So the cop could actually speak English or were you speaking Chinese? I would assume if the cop could actually communicate with you he’d give you a ticket. but the papre work is alot more if its a foriegner. Do you have a licence for your bike, usuallya cop asks for a licence if you don’t have it he’ll give you a NT60,000 fine[/quote]
My Chinese is good. We were communicating fine. I even said “If you want to give me a ticket, that’s fine”…and they didn’t. They went through a lot of hassel to catch me…and then no ticket.
Speaking of which the cops had a checkstop and caught my roommate running a redlight…and they didn’t give him a ticket either…I thought if they specifically had a checkstop set up to nab people…they would for sure give him one…but they didn’t. They were aggressive and rude…but no ticket. And his girlfriend was translating for them.
too many cameras and patrol cars to make it any fun… and cruising along at legal speeds on a long, straight road with no intersections is just plain boring…