Hi Everyone,
I was completely horrified by the pointless death of the foreigner on his scooter near Wulai last week and it got me thinking. I believe it’s time to effect change to the attitudes and laws which are contributing to the serious injuries and deaths to both foreigners and Taiwanese in Taiwan. And I believe that the foreign community can drive these changes.
Almost all of us have seen, heard of or personally experienced accidents or near accidents in Taiwan. Personally, I don’t know a single foreigner who hasn’t either been injured in an accident or has had some appalling near misses (please don’t share those stories in this forum topic, I’ve set up a seperate topic for these). Taiwan has an appalling road safety record, especially with respect to scooters and motorbikes. There are several factors which contribute to this: poor driver education, poor road standards, over-crowding (not much we can do about that!), weak law enforcement and driver attitudes. Apart from over-crowding, all of these things can and should be changed.
I want to make a proposal and use this forum to assess reaction to it. I propose setting up an organisation with the goal of making these changes. I would hope that we can get both the foreign community and, eventually, locals involved. The idea goes something like this: for an annual memembership fee (which I would hope would be less than $NT200) we would set up an organisation with three main puposes: Education, Legislation and Litigation. Let me explain:
Education: We would start a campaign primarily focussing on driving attitudes in Taiwan; educating people that, for example, driving at 80km/h on a crowded city street just isn’t smart. With so many foreign English teachers in Taiwanese schools we are in a unique position to deliver this message to the next generation of Taiwanese drivers. I’m sure there is other stuff we can do as well : suggestions please!
Legislation: Taiwanese law is, as I understand it, appallingly week when it comes to prosecuting drivers who severely injure or kill someone. I believe that mostly these people kill, and walk away. I propose we campaign heavily for a changes in the law to protect all road users.
Litigation: I propose that if any member of the organisation is killed or injured through the negligent or dangerous driving of another road user, that we provide legal and financial support for him/her (or their family) to sue the other driver to the fullest extent possible. I believe that under Taiwanese law, this is the only mechanism for punishing a driver who hurts or kills someone. I propose that we make it clear, through newspaper advertising and other media, that if seomone injures or kills a member of our group through negligence or dangerous driving, the driver will lose everything they own.
This is not the be-all and end-all: this is just my idea so far. I’d welcome suggestions, support or criticism (hopefully of the constructive kind). If you’re for this campaign and, like me, don’t want to hear about another friend or a friend-of-a-friend being killed on the roads here, then please give your time, effort and (eventually) be prepared to give a little money to make this idea a reality.
Thanks!!