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Indoors. That’s a new low.
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Just had a car try to speed up to beat the yellow…well he ended up slamming on the breaks and just sitting on the entire crosswalk. He refused to back up into the empty space behind him.
Now that means, to go around him I need to get off the crosswalk and if someone were to turn and suddenly crash as they can’t see me because of the car I might be liable for the incident and blamed by police and judge for causing a traffic accident and forced to pay a lot of money or even locked up because I “wasn’t on the crosswalk”.
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Driver in Taichung forces his way through an orange light turning red because of the usual the car in front of me is turning so I’m turning mindset that is so prevalent. He waits for pedestrians for a bit then starts to drive through, almost hitting pedestrians and the driver also honks at them. The driver and the pedestrian get in an argument. The driver says the pedestrian rights are only on the crosswalk and tells the pedestrian his mother didn’t teach him, mom teach your son~.
The thing is…it doesn’t matter if the pedestrians didn’t cross on the crosswalk or not there because it was during a pedestrian only phase meaning no cars so pedestrians can cross diagonally if they want to.
The driver even uploaded his own dashcam footage which has been spread around already and people mocking the driver.
Man driving his wife to hospital mistakenly starts pressing on the accelerator and ends up driving up into the sidewalk and hitting two pedestrians who were sitting down taking a break. The driver is unlicensed…and is 91 years old. Happened right outside NTU Hospital.
In other news a scooter drove up onto the sidewalk nearly hitting me as I was walking past a school today. As the scooter got halfway down the block on the sidewalk I hear a police car siren…a cop spotted him clear as day and made him stop and started issuing him a ticket. First time I’ve ever seen that happen in person. I felt like a child waking up on Christmas morning full of glee and excitement to open my Christmas presents. Put me in a great mood for a while.
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It’s unfortunate that the driver can’t see any of these comments because the video was uploaded by a third-party account.
In 1951, UK introduced Zebra crosswalk to its people.... click link for video.
— Valuetainment Media (@ValuetainmentTV) November 2, 2023
pic.twitter.com/ZVZcuVTwld
Got back from running a half marathon. It went reasonably well, I ran a new personal best, staff and volunteers were very friendly, easy to get to the event which was great. It was all going great until I got back to to Taichung city…
Almost got run over by a scooter running a red light on my way back home…tired of this shit. Yelled at the lady in English in Chinese and she just drove off, not even a sorry for almost hitting me.
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The stoned face indifference I see with similar miscreants in Taipei is remarkable. They really seem to have zero sense of shame.
Guy
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Look at this hideputa and tell me you won’t kill him right there if you have the means.
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Taiwan News article. Not much to say besides what’s already pretty apparent from the video.
Driver could be fined up to 16,000
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That will teach him, I’m sure.
Surveillance camera and dashcam footage showed that just as the woman was about to reach the midway point of the crossing where a median refuge island was located,
This is a median refuge island (and sidewalks are green)
Can’t you see how safe is this woman?
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Just another tricky day in Douliou. 
Guy
Incredibly skinny crosswalks in Taichung, close to Taichung’s National Museum of Fine Arts. Drove by it the other day with a friend and saw how one person crossing took up almost the entire crosswalk. Meaning if there are more than just a couple people crossing then someone will be forced off of the crosswalk and can be sued and sentenced to prison for causing an accident because they weren’t walking on the sidewalk.
The sad thing is…the other crossing at that intersection you can see it used to be wider before, they deliberately made it narrower…
Also stopped by Compass Fest by Calligraphy Greenway for a bit and man these crosswalks in areas with large amounts of foot traffic are all way too tiny. Hundreds of people crossing at the same time and spilling into the roads.
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Taiwan is in a similar war against pedestrians as other countries are in a war against bicycles. Ignoring them or building the most horrible infrastructure so nobody uses it, so they can use their arguments against.
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Really? You don’t think it is a matter of laziness (of design), stupidity (of planners)?
This situation can however be changed with a better municipal team (ie an elected team that is not lazy, not stupid, and has a forward looking vision).
Guy
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After 11 years here, I kinda prefer to think they’re evil than THAT stupid.
Most crosswalks across Taiwan were shortened as part of the new pedestrian yielding crackdown. They shortened them to discourage pedestrians from walking side by side as much as possible. That way when a vehicle doesn’t yield, they don’t mow down a whole row of pedestrians.
I think the municipal team matters. I’ve seen what Ko’s team did in his first term; I’ve seen what the Lin DPP administration did in Hsinchu City. Improvements are possible with a good team. With a mediocre placeholding team, however, nothing changes.
Guy
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Gotta love Taiwan News - the maximum fine reported is incorrect, it’s 6,000 NTD not 16,000 NTD (the article they linked has the correct number).
Additionally, news should just report on the minimum as it’s very unclear on what the actual fine would be. In this case, the minimum fine is 1,200 NTD.
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Do you you mind giving me some street names so I can check? I don’t actually live in Taipei city, so I don’t go that often to city center. I’m struggling to think about significant improvements.
I don’t think of Ko as the Taiwanese Anne Hidalgo 