On some threads there have been complaints about lax Taiwan traffic laws. There are also complaints about foreigners being treated unfairly in Taiwan in preference of locals.
Two things I’d like to point out. Firstly many foreigners who complain do so while driving vehicles without a Taiwan driving license. It is actually a requirement here to have a license. Foreigners can get away with this because in general cops are lax in dealing with foreigners due to language and cultural barriers. Many of us are quite happy to fully take advantage of that situation but then complain about lax traffic laws or bias treatment of foreigners in local courts.
Can i suggest to foreigners who do not have a local motorcycle license to go and get one. I did, and it is REALLY REALLY easy and takes one afternoon; mainly of hanging about waiting for different things. There is a written test in ENGLISH which consists mainly of true and false questions on a computer. Then the practical tests consists of driving around a small course with a few traffic lights etc. It is well easy. The written test was useful for me as originating from the UK I did not understand all of the road signs; which in fact nearly caused accident when I myself drove for two months without a license (stupidly). There is a little book you can get for free or very cheap that explains the meaning of these signs in English.
I hope you take my advice and do it because if you drive here at some point you are highly likely to have an accident when having a license will be useful.
It also shows that you have some respect for the local people and their LAW. Please don’t complain about lax laws while you drive around without a license.
(Obviously not meant at those that already have a license). If you would like to ask me some further questions about the test then feel free to ask.
In my situation, My drivers license is from the state of Oklahoma in the USA. I can exchange my license for a TW drivers license. However I have to have a 1 year valid ARC, My International permit is exempt. So as an OK resident even though I have an exchange I can’t use an IDL(International Drivers License). So even with reciprocity I am not allowed to drive when I enter Taiwan. According to Law.
Even though I got married and have an ARC I still am not allowed an exchange due to the dates or my ARC since they are not 1 year at this time :loco:
I take the test and be legal or just bum around on my scooter and when they stop me I say :no-no: I have an OK drivers license with my IDL.
I also got extra protection through IGN so but I am supposed to be allowed a license without any problems. Just as my wife will get her drivers license in Oklahoma even though she doesn’t know the brake from the gas. She still got her Taiwan drivers license.
I guess the true meaning of recriprocrate has been misinterpreted.
I have been driving in Taiwan for over 2 years. The local girls say I drive like a Taiwanese but when in Rome. No accidents yet.
Running red lights, driving on shoulders, swerving across lanes, turning right/left from the left/right lane, not yielding for pedestrians, etc are all dangerous and illegal, even in Taiwan. One doesn’t need to take the test to be able to point that out. The written test is all common sense and fairly easy, but so many drivers completely ignore the rules once they get on the street. So what’s the frikkin point of going through the process if in practice it’s meaningless? To learn how to drive a backwards S?
I think the general reference to traffic laws not being properly enforced is in reaction to the constant and almost toal lack of respect found on the roads. I for one don’t believe that respect is taught through the implementation of the present licensing scheme. I also believe that Taiwan is suffering a great number of hit and runs because of the enormous lack of drivers with comprehensive insurance and the lack of a law which insists on basic insurance covering third party property as well as persons.
These two basics being stated, I see lack of reason why anyone would find incentive to either get a license or comprehensive insurance or both. As a neighbour once told me many years ago, the lack of a license probably meant that one was more careful when driving. In some ways he is right. Even driving instructors here don’t teach people how to drive. Certainly the possession of licenses and basic insurance doesn’t stop people from driving like idiots in Taiwan. System failure then.
There is a distinct difference between appreciation and emulation. What Taiwan has achieved in incorporating many of its systems here from education to policing is emulation and not in fact a system which appreciates and teaches to appreciate the rules and methods of foreign countries from which most of its policies are aped.
I digress.
As long as the education system here teaches people in a Chinese manner i.e. memorise don’t analyse, then I don’t see why licenses are really necessary at all. There is a lack of pro-activeness on the roads of Taiwan which is why many drivers prefer the reactive measures of carrying bats, knives and sticks. If you can’t change the system, then beat the hell out of those who follow it.
I don’t condone the use of violence in Taiwan. I do however believe that often the only thing keeping people in place is often the fact that they are just scared of each other. Clearly those that aren’t scared and carry bigger bats and belong to gangs, drive trucks, taxis and police vehicles, don’t tend to give a shit. Respect in Taiwan is mostly gained by some level of threat, not by a will to harmonise with one another and work together clearly.
Do you know how most people get their license in Taiwan?
How about the insane policy of ARCs and licenses?
Do you really think the locals give a shit beyond anything more than a convenient excuse to demonize the “other”?
Save your preaching for church, when the locals understand the laws instead of emulate them like Sulavaca mentions, I’ll have a bit more respect for them and their country till then I FUCKING HAVE TO WORRY EVERY TIME I TAKE MY DAUGHTER FOR A FUCKING WALK IN HER STROLLER!!! :fume: :fume: :fume:
It wasn’t insane for me and of course I know how to get a license are you incapable of reading a post. I have a license so yes I know how most people in Taiwan get one. Do you? You don’t drive do you? Now save your ranting for the Church
If you are having a fit about the driving here then you should be encouraging all to follow the law and that includes whitey
We all have to get third party insurance it is that little green card that you are required to buy every year for around 1800 NT$ or so. Cops check for that when they pull you over to check for your license.
This is not the USA and not UK. This is Taiwan and Taiwan has its laws. So to all you who drive without a license out of sheer disrespect or being too damn arse lazy to get a license. Either shut up about Taiwan’s lack of respect on the roads or get a damn license and then complain about it if you so wish.
Plenty of foreigners moaning about Taiwan’s traffic laws and then blatantly disregarding them but being too lazy or arrogant to get a license even when they have given us a simple to follow English alternative.
The license system also does have a purpose.
(1) It teaches the highway code. It tests for a knowledge of road signs, speed limits, rights of way etc (whether or not they follow that later is a different issue)
(2) The motorcycle practical test although easy makes sure people can at least handle a bike to some extent before driving (people still fail it).
It has a purpose. You digress too much. It is simple and a discussion of philosophy is not required. If you can get a license get one, follow the law or do not complain when other do not do so (not meaning YOU)
yeah i understand that situation. For me it wasn’t as difficult as I had more than a one year ARC. When I first came here I had an international driving license from the UK and went and got it stamped at the Taiwan transportation office in Banchiou. It took about 25 minutes and was efficient. I agree that situation you encountered was loco and you tried to sort it out. That is different to MANY foreigners I know here that could easily get a license but just can’t be arsed to do so. although they are always bitching about local driving habits!. I knew an English guy here that hit an old lady while driving unlicensed on his motorcycle and she died. He told me not having the license made it a lot worse and far more likely for a conviction on careless driving. He got bail left the country and never came back. If this post encourages a few more to get licenses it will be worth it, that is my intention as I hope no one gets involved in a serious accident here when not possessing a license.
Really? When I was studying for the test a few years back, it was not in English. It was in that common yet bizarre hybrid language called Chinglish, and many of the questions were incomprehensible.
The slap on the wrist you get for getting caught driving without a license isn’t the real issue. Isn’t the point that if you don’t have a license, then you are driving uninsured? Even on a 50cc scooter you can kill and maim others, leaving you with a potentially huge financial liability.
If you’re going to drive without a license, you’d better have the $$$ in the bank for the big day (and that day will come, no matter how much you convince yourself otherwise.)
I’ve never heard of police asking to see proof of insurance, even in the event of an accident. You must be confusing it with your vehicle registration.
That was one point I made out of other points. So you don’t respect locals and their laws? What is your rolling eyes sarcastic icon for? Live in their country respect their laws regardless if 100% of the locals do or don’t follow those laws.
the yellow card (brownish yellow not green I just checked) card is insurance, That covers third party. You cannot drive without one and have to pay every year compulsory. You need a license for one. Maybe you are correct about the police not asking. When they pulled me over they checked everything but that was because I handed all the documents to them. So yes maybe I am wrong on that point granted.
Perhaps you could do it in the local language instead? Or hey why not even volunteer you time to correct it. I understood the entire test although I am not a grammar nazi for sure so maybe I could read in between the lines when the wrong tense was used. After all they have these big huge children’s pictures to help even more. Plus you can get a few wrong.
I look at the title of this thread and it could be interpreted that those who have drivers’ licenses have a general disregard for traffic laws…
So what you are saying is that if a foreigner comes here, let’s say one who has been driving safely with a license for 30 years in their home country, but doesn’t get a local license, then they are unqualified to make observations on unsafe driving behavior? Does getting a license mean you respect traffic laws? How about the millions driving with licenses who don’t respect traffic laws?
That being said, I believe it’s a good idea to get a local license, but I don’t think I’d get up on the soap box over it.
Third party insurance is not comprehensive insurance and does not cover damage to third party property as I earlier stated.
I don’t think that having a Taiwan motor vehicle license is a requirement in order to complain about Taiwan road conditions.
If you think that the present license system incorporates proper English, then I would assume you haven’t taken the test before.
The present license system only teaches some parts of the highway code. It actually leaves out the majority of the highway code as there are a limited number of questions which it asks in random order. It certainly leaves out all braking distances for one which is a standard question in many western tests.
The light motorcycle test doesn’t even test to see if people can turn in both directions. It neither tests people’s management in a traffic situation.
Following the law and having a license for the sake of an extra piece of paper in your wallet are two different things. The license is only in order to provide some level of accountability for one’s illegal actions. It does not mean that someone can drive properly or will drive properly. I agree that the license should be provided only if someone has a grasp of the road conditions and how to function within them properly as part of a society. As is being discussed however there is some disagreement whether the Taiwan licensing system actually provides any meaningful additional education to foreigners which may already have a license from a foreign country. I personally believe I learned nothing in addition to what I learned in the U.K. under my original training. I believe Taiwan must agree as it is also willing to accept my international licence. Given that it is willing to accept licenses gained elsewhere, then is it a stretch of the imagination to argue therefore that the Taiwan government sees little need for a foreigner with a license from a reciprocating country to actually take lessons in Taiwan? Well I would say no because taking lessons are not required for reciprocal country citizens. Therefore I would also argue that the local additional license is then only in fact what I stated just now. It is a piece of paper which hopes to offer some degree of accountability to local “police” authorities. But then so does an I.D. card, passport or any other I.D. for that matter. A foreigner having a license still does not mean that they will abide all traffic regulations and it does not mean that they are any more or less qualified to complain about others on the road.
I try to only digress when I make relative points.
I think our boy, fenlander, has gone native on us lads. Soon he will start talking about how we are hurting the feelings of the Taiwanese people.
The DMV would actually allow a foreigner to fix their poor English on the driving test?!?! Are you fucking mad? It would never happen and that’s if you could find the person in charge to make it happen. :roflmao:
Do you know what I got for asking the police to enforce the law on something? I got bitched out by my wife.
Have you even tried to get information from a government employee here, in person or on the phone?
ichbinjenny, congratulations on your reply.
I once spoke to the director at the Chendu road facility about the inconsistencies found between testing facilities and the fact that they were offering different “correct” answers to the same questions and were being misleading in doing so. I was told at the time “that’s their problem.”
It seems you POSSIBLY found the right person to contact.
I would indeed be happy to contact your person there and offer my services to try and help correct the English in their examination if they should need. Would it be possible to submit that person’s public email here for us please?
but I am supposed to be allowed a license without any problems. Just as my wife will get her drivers license in Oklahoma even though she doesn’t know the brake from the gas. She still got her Taiwan drivers license.
