Three of us were pulled over for not doing a 2-point left turn. I make that turn at least 2-3 times a week and I swear I never saw a sign there before. I went back to look and sure enough the sign looks new. However, that’s no excuse and I was totally in the wrong.
Why am I happy? Because it shows to me that the police do enforce the traffic laws, at least this time.
On Monday I drove my scooter back from Yilan on highway 9 (Beiyi Rd). If you know about this road then you know that inconsiderate pricks often race their sports cars, motorcycles, and scooters at deadly speeds along its winding roads. There have been numerous accidents and fatalities because of these selfish douchebags but, despite more speed cameras being installed recently, the thoughtless shitheads were out in full force again on Monday.
Naturally, “Why don’t police enforce the traffic laws?!” kept swirling through my angry brain. Today’s ticket gives me a little hope that traffic violations are taken seriously, at least somewhat. I need to cling to this hope to keep from going crazy about the lack of driving skills and disregard for safety on the roads here.
The officer said 600, which I was told I can pay at the convenience store after 7 days.
Another thing that impressed me was that, although the officer spoke no English, he didn’t act flustered or embarrassed about it. He was friendly yet professional and treated me the same as the other two Taiwanese guys he stopped. My foreignness was no excuse and that made me feel good.
I never heard of a 2-point turn before (though I could guess what it was because I know what a 3 point turn is). It seems inherently dangerous. Why is this mandated at this spot? What danger does it mitigate?
I also never heard of a hook turn before. It also looks inherently dangerous, but I understand why it would be used if you didn’t build a stop light system well.
Problem is they only enforce traffic violations when they haven’t met they target goals. They usually meet them pretty quickly via DUI tickets but due to recent lockdowns they are forced to actually go and do their job so now you see them checking the decibels of exhausts, looking for people who park in the wrong places etc. I saw them putting tickets on scooters parked in an abandoned lot for the first time since I moved there in 2014. I even saw them ticketing a car that was parked in its own garage but the front of the car was still out touching the red line.
When I was stopped in Pingdong, the cops let me go with a warning but to make it fair let everyone go that they caught in that round. Taichung didn’t really use those hook intersections too often which was nice, at most intersections you can just turn unless it’s a major one
Was told this by the police officer who used to handle our neighborhood. He used to come to let us know when the police would be out doing this stuff so we would be careful of not doing anything dumb and parking properly.
I have also been told by many colleagues and friends. They even share on the Line groups when the police will be out and about and I have confirmed those dates when I go out and suddenly see hundreds of cops all over the place. It is known, if you are here long enough you will too.
The Hook Turns (for all vehicles) in Australia started in Melbourne, where the presence of Tram Lines in the middle of the road was an issue, particularly in the CBD. So they decreed that Hook Turns would be introduced in 5 Intersections so that turning traffic did not get in the way of the Trams. Those 5 Intersections were also built into the Questions for the Driving Test and had to be named. Of the 5, 4 of them are no longer 4 way intersections due to vehicle access (except Trams and Buses) being removed from at least one and I think the Hook Turns have been removed. Oddly though, the other Australian Cities that had Trams didn’t see the need for them.
They are popular where the road isn’t wide enough to add extra turning lanes, or had an impediment such as Tram Tracks, and are now commonplace.
Sorry to extinguish your freshly sparked hope, but the police in Taiwan, just as anywhere else I suppose, do shit. They only ‘enforce’ the law when they need a quota to justify their existence. I bet you ten times the value of the ticket that you’re not going to see them there any time soon. And if so, only for a short period of time needed to satisfy the quota.
