[quote]Fatalities resulting from drunk driving have increased over the past five years, the National Police Administration (NPA) said yesterday.
“On average, 456 people died every year between 2000 and 2005 from drinking and driving,” according to NPA statistics released yesterday.
While 434 people died in traffic accidents owing to drunk driving in 2004, this figure almost doubled to 828 last year, the NPA said.
The NPA added that traffic accidents caused by drunk driving reached 96,403 last year, making it the number one cause of driving accidents.[/quote]
What can you do? Encourage friends to drink responsibly. Call them a cab or drive them home if needed. Know your limit, and stick to it if you’re driving. Call it in if you see someone drunk getting into a car, or someone driving erratically.
Wear a seat belt. Get a proper crash helmet. Let’s guess that most of the dead either went through the windscreen at a billion miles an hour or were on a bike when hit by a car.
Obviously there’s lots the government could do, but won’t.
Calling it in won’t necessarily help, as I remeber a few police officers having been caught guzzling at the wheel last year. Unless a driver is really off his trolley, he can easily turn around and go the other way when he comes upon a police checkpoint with their flashing lights constantly on.
The best thing you can do is be totally aware of your surroundings at all times, even while being a pedestrian or within sight of a strip of tarmac.
94,000 people being involved in some way with drink driving accidents is alot of people considering the total population of Taiwan. My town in the UK is has fewer people in it than that, and it’s a fair size.
I was stopped at a red light once, right at the stop line…when I started noticing my bike tipping over to the left. I tried to stand it back up…but couldn’t. It was very confusing at the time. A few milliseconds later I realize there is a car…backing off the side walk and it’s rear bumper is against my leg and it’s pushing me over very slowly.
So I bang on his car and luckily he stops. I was with a ridding club and there was about 8 of us. The man was very very drunk. Friendly drunk…luckily for me. In retrospect we should have tossed his car keys…but we didn’t. The only satisfaction I got from the whole thing was when I was inspecting my muffler. He (the drunk) sees me inspecting it…and wraps his hand around the pipe and gives it a little shake as if to say “It’s ok, it’s still firmly mounted”…and luckily the alcohol stopped his pain receptors from doing their job properly…as he palmed my muffler for a good 2 seconds.
I’m betting he probably lost all the skin on the palm of his hand in a painful mass of blisters from that smart move .
Other than that I’ve plenty of experiences with drunk drivers on the street…as we all do, I’m sure.
Woah…just read the article. Before I read it I was thinking “Drunk driving is the #1 cause of accidents in most countries…nothing special there”…but BUS DRIVERS?!? Bus drivers are responsible for a large number of drunken accidents? Ahh, yes…that sounds more like the Taiwan I know and love… :bravo: :loco: .
Hexuan’s advice is good. Any time I put on a seatbelt here (especially in the back seat) I get laughed at and asked if I don’t trust the driver (often a family member). My answer is always the same “It’s not that I don’t trust the driver. It’s that I don’t trust any of the other drivers on the road.”
In NZ ever since I can remember the govt/police run primetime TV ads educating drivers.
Drink driving, Speeding, No seatbelt etc etc.
The only ads that are drving related I have ever seen here are some cartoon type things before a movie at the cinema, and that was all about scooters doing the 2 step turn.
The ads in NZ are graphic and kinda shocking, ranging from special effect movies showing simulated crashes with blood and guts, to footage of paraplegics coping with life after doing something stupid.
With the amount of crazy, selfish driving going on here, there is a ideal opportunity to run something similar and really make a difference, I just wonder why they dont?
[quote=“Truant”]With the amount of crazy, selfish driving going on here, there is a ideal opportunity to run something similar and really make a difference, I just wonder why they dont?[/quote]They worked in the UK too, changing drink driving from “You can drink that much and still drive ? what a man !” to “You stupid ****”. UK deaths are less than Taiwan, despite having 3 times the population, and the UK is hardly a teetotal culture.
The police actually taking an interest in stopping it helped too (They’re not allowed to set up road blocks)
The government has been running ads for years, which in Chinese say “if you drink, don’t drive; if you drive, don’t drink”, and I get stopped at roadblocks a few times a year (once on the way home from HH two days ago), usually just long enough for the police to look at my face to see if it’s red from drinking (since many locals turn bright red after drinking even a little). I’ve also been breathalyzed at two such stops, just at random. So they’re doing something. Just not enough, obviously.
[quote=“Truant”] The ads in NZ are graphic and kinda shocking, ranging from special effect movies showing simulated crashes with blood and guts, to footage of paraplegics coping with life after doing something stupid.
With the amount of crazy, selfish driving going on here, there is a ideal opportunity to run something similar and really make a difference, I just wonder why they dont?[/quote]Taiwanese don’t want to be told they could end up that way. It’s too depressing. Noone wants to see images like that. It would spoil my mood.
Trust me, I have asked this question a thousand times and those are the usual answers. Expect more cute but useless cartoons.
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“Truant”] The ads in NZ are graphic and kinda shocking, ranging from special effect movies showing simulated crashes with blood and guts, to footage of paraplegics coping with life after doing something stupid.
With the amount of crazy, selfish driving going on here, there is a ideal opportunity to run something similar and really make a difference, I just wonder why they dont?[/quote]Taiwanese don’t want to be told they could end up that way. It’s too depressing. Noone wants to see images like that. It would spoil my mood.
Trust me, I have asked this question a thousand times and those are the usual answers. Expect more cute but useless cartoons.[/quote]
Those damn cartoons are just crap!..they turn a serious topic into something playful.
What “redwagon” wrote reminds me of the time I bought 2 fire detectors for my wife’s parent’s place. She asked my why I bought them…and I replied that I didn’t see any in her house before and that should there ever be a fire, the chances of getting out safely were slim, so taking this precaution was a good idea…well, she got mad and said that I shouldn’t have said that about her family…I was totally stumped as to what I had said wrong…it turns out that just by saying that there could be a fire and some could get hurt was enough to bring a mental picture to her that just seemed like I was predicting a bad event of some sort!..So, we can warn against dangers, but we can’t depict or show what happens if precautions aren’t followed because it becomes too “real” for their taste!..I guess we can safely say that “it’s all fun and games till someone loses an eye”!
It makes a lot of sense when we look around and see how they drive and how they take all aspects of safety lightly!
Has anyone seen an ad on the TV that feature a bunch of young guys going around strapping thick padding on all the roadside street furniture? The ad ends with them all piling into a Mini and driving off to a beerhouse. Seems to be saying "we’re gonna be wasted when we drive home, so the padding’s for when we crash into something. :loco: :loco: :loco:
^^ I think the idea of that one was that ‘in real life’ the mattresses won’t be there when you crash, so leave the car home if you’re going out on the piss. But, that’s my logic at work for you. The real point could still be about KFC for all I know.
Then can and do set up roadblocks - I was stopped 3 times in my last 2 years in the UK either as passenger or driver. They were VERY thorough one time in a van on the M6, checking if the goods we were carrying were stolen, checking for red diesel, license, tax, insurance, whether we were claiming unemployment benefits, the works. Oh, and they’re actually real, serious roadblocks and not just two guys with lights flashing located conveniently just beyond an intersection.
I guess the difference is respect, and respect only works when someone is worthy. I know people who wouldn’t dream of driving without a license in the UK but happily do so in Taiwan. And I’ve had some bad experiences with police in the UK but I have to admit the beat police do a stand-up job. I remember calling the police from my mobile when a fight broke out once and they had my location and brought up the nearby CCTV cameras before I even said anything. Squad car was there within 90 seconds and broke it up before anyone got seriously hurt. Another time I was arrested for trying to break into my own office - didn’t appreciate it at the time but I felt safe to think the police actually did their job sometimes. I can’t say I like the British police but I respect them.
Sadly, I wouldn’t trust the Taiwanese police to piss on me if I was on fire. In the UK, if I thought I might be in danger and a police officer showed up I would instinctively feel safe. How many people here feel safe in the presence of a Taiwanese policeman?
One thing I would hope to see change in Taiwan is the ‘not my fault’ / ‘not my problem’ thinking. I nearly crashed into a woman with no lights at night a few weeks back and politely warned her that she might cause an accident unless she had it fixed. She spat in my face. That says it all.
[quote=“Big Fluffy Matthew”][quote=“Truant”]With the amount of crazy, selfish driving going on here, there is a ideal opportunity to run something similar and really make a difference, I just wonder why they dont?[/quote]They worked in the UK too, changing drink driving from “You can drink that much and still drive ? what a man !” to “You stupid ****”. UK deaths are less than Taiwan, despite having 3 times the population, and the UK is hardly a teetotal culture.
The police actually taking an interest in stopping it helped too (They’re not allowed to set up road blocks)[/quote]
You actually found smoke alarms in Taiwan?! Please let me know where… I bought some fire extinguishers and emergency lighting from B&Q but they only had big commercial fire alarms and I just want a few small smoke detectors for each floor.
Interesting aside: the UK fire brigade install and maintain smoke alarms free of charge if you ask them, and will also give your house the once-over for potential fire hazards.
Did you ever see the speed campaign with the little girl? (‘At 30mph she would have lived’ or sth). Very unpleasant but I’m sure it must have affected enough people to save a few lives.
The model in this picture had some chemical put in her eye to make one pupil more dilated than the other to simulate brain damage or something.[/quote]
I just remembered something very valid to this thread.
There is a new rule that says after every accident no matter how large or small all people involved must take a breathilizer (sp?) test. When I got rear-ended at a stop light I had to blow into the machine as well.
So since this is a fairly new rule…that could account for the numbers doubling in one year. In other words the numbers didn’t double…the testing did.
[quote=“Mordeth”]I just remembered something very valid to this thread.
There is a new rule that says after every accident no matter how large or small all people involved must take a breathilizer (sp?) test. When I got rear-ended at a stop light I had to blow into the machine as well.
So since this is a fairly new rule…that could account for the numbers doubling in one year. In other words the numbers didn’t double…the testing did.[/quote]You mean when someone was killed before, they often wouldn’t have bothered testing the driver ? :loco:
Actually, being Taiwan, that wouldn’t have surprised me. The deaths would have been listed as “unpreventable accidents where noone did anything wrong (except the dead person, it was all his fault)”
.
:bravo: :loco: .