Has anyone been fined for not wearing a (motorcycle/scooter) helmet, and if so how much was it? A cursory search online tells me its about NT$500.
Also, has anyone been fined for not having their ID/license when stopped by the police?
I’ve been stopped by the police here many times over the years, but never let them see my ID or license, and then always talked my way out of the situation. It’s possible to get a fine just using the number plate of the vehicle of course. I’m curious to know how often foreigners here actually do get fined.
Many people ride around without a helmet on in rural areas, especially in the summer, or in their local neighbourhood. They are not cretins, and neither am I.
Anybody who rides a motorcycle without a helmet is a cretin. Whether you’re in a vineyard in Italy or a busy street in Mumbai and riding without a helmet, you’re a cretin.
That really is a matter of opinion. We now know your opinion. Hopefully someone can answer my questions, the answers to which may be of general interest.
To be honest, when I got here many moons ago I enjoyed doing that in Kaohsiung and the cops there couldn’t care less since 1 in 3 people didn’t wear a helmet. You didn’t even need a license then either as the cops didn’t care. My personal take on it is that it’s your brain that will get scrambled in a crash so I don’t agree with fines for that since the victim is yourself.
However the authorities disagee. All of Taiwan except for the most rural areas cracked down on this now. I never see helmetless riders in Kaohsiung anymore.
Yes they will stop you now in seconds if they see you go by like that. $500 isn’t much but when you get stopped repeatedly all day long it’ll add up
The fine is quite low. Dunno about NT$500, but certainly in that ballpark.
However as mentioned that’s not a sensible reason to not wear a helmet. A middle-aged acquaintance was bumped off her scooter while stationary at the lights, fell badly, hit her head, and died. This was a while back when helmets were less-than-compulsory.
Your choice, of course. Foreigners don’t get fined, in the main, because we wear helmets.
I guess it’s somewhat of a thing. My Chinese isn’t good enough to have a clear understanding of the article below, from October 2019, but it appears to involve a Tainan city councilor complaining about fines for not wearing a helmet, which would seem to imply that such fines are issued from time to time. It also appears to contain some mention of people not wanting to mess up their hair, but again, maybe that reading comes from my lack of Mandarin skills.
Is this the police response to what the city councilor said? I can’t tell:
So far, looking on the board for reports or opinions about the helmet law has been slim pickings for me, but maybe I just haven’t used the right search words/method.
