[quote=“sandman”]
Nice. A bit too busy to my old eyes, though. But there’s no Chinese. I don’t think there are too many furriners who let their kids ride helmetless here. Fewer and fewer locals, too, these days, although I did see one helmetless tot just this morning kind of hanging out of its harness over the edge of a scooter that was fair belting along. Looked like brain salad surgery in the making for sure. I didn’t do anything, though. Not my bidness.[/quote]
I think just as many people put their kids on bikes without helmets, but it certainly is a difficult statistic to provide. I still see lots of helmetless kids and three with a parent on bikes, even around Shilin. I berated a granny yesterday and she had a kid plonked on her footwell that may as well have been a dog in the way it was placed. No older than 6 months, the little runt.
I have come to think that the more stupid, selfish people do it the better as these kids would otherwise grow up to be like their parents and grandparents if they were given a greater chance to survive. Call it Darwinism. I’ve seen at least three foreigners with helmetless kids on scooters here in the last year and I have probably not noticed more than four bikes with foreign parent plus child in total so that’s 75% in my book, oh, and one was 1 parent plus two kids.
One of the whitey mothers had a 1~2 month old strapped to her chest under her coat and was supporting it with her left hand the whole time whilst riding down Keelung road in the morning rush hour. I hope you know who you are you stupid bitch. I really despair more than ever when I see foreigners being as stupid as locals.
I would say as a greater caution to other road users, the ambulances should slow right down and not pickup splattered adults and children until a much greater number of passers by and news channels could have their fill. After all the only reason that people continue being stupid is they never get to feel or see what that stupidity brings until its too late. The fact that the undead are still traveling the road, sort of reinforces that false sense of security/safety felt by everyone else, whereas if the maimed and splattered could talk then there would be no doubt far less people being idiots on the road. Our nanny has lost two out of three siblings because of completely separate scooter incidents. She doesn’t ride a scooter, I wonder why?!
I’ve asked this question in not so few words to everyone who takes their kids on a scooter “Why are you an idiot?”, “Oh, well everyone else seems to be doing it.” is always the response.
Believe it or not there is no specific helmet safety specification for motorcycle riders in the U.K. and yet you don’t see people going around with builder’s hats, German WWII helmets, water melon skins, skateboard helmets and other oddities on their heads and why not? Because the majority help to reinforce the idea that safety rules by practicing it and thus we have one of the lowest traffic fatality rates anywhere. If people were stupid enough then I’m sure the government would introduce better standards, but the fact is they don’t have to (unless obliged by new E.U. laws which I don’t know about).
My conclusion is simply that people are stupid and defend their stupidity only because other people are just as stupid, but this is a stupid excuse.
I’ve always put it to parents that if they can imagine what it may be like losing their child in a traffic accident or for it to be seriously injured and if they think they could live with themselves knowing that they had done all they could to secure that child’s safety, then carry on then, otherwise think again.
