Can’t speak for other cities in Taiwan, but I have witnessed quite a transformation to a more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly city in Taipei. It’s a slow process and given that the space is limited and the population density is high you cannot expect too much, too fast. Again, my priority would be to force drivers, riders, and walkers to respect the existing laws, there is still tons of room for improvement. Use the money generated by fines to improve the road conditions.
The roads near my kids school have been resurfaced. The two new zebra crossings they added after recent road deaths in the news are gone.
I guess those ad hoc changes were not added to the city road plans and the company remaking the road markings just followed them.
差不多
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It’s a bad solution. Massive inconvenience (at best) and infrastructure and public space waste to allow cars to drive faster. If you take a look at developed countries you will see nobody is using that widely. When you are the exception, you are most likely doing it wrong.
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I know that, and I don’t advocate to bring them back. My point was that people would rather risk the dangers of the road than using a safer, but less convenient alternative. I see the problem more in the behavior than the infrastructure. Of course there is lots to improve there too.
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Of course I would rather cross the road than go down a flight of stairs, walk in a dark, damp, stinky tunnel and walk up a flight of stairs. Or just walk 20 meters.
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Exactly, so why not build infrastructure that solves both problems? Provide a safe AND convenient way to cross the street.
Crosswalks are already convenient but they’re not that safe yet. I personally believe we need more visible crosswalks, and more two-stage pedestrian crossings with wide islands like they have in HK and the UK, and not just in the wide roads.
Here is an uncontrolled crossing in HK, with very visible flashing lamps, guard rails on either side to prevent diagonal “short-cuts”, and very obvious zig-zig “slow down” markings on the road:
Here is a two-stage crossing in HK, with guardrails and plenty of space on the island to wait for the next stage:
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I would like a solution where a light starts flashing when you step on the first stripe of a zebra crossing.
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When I was younger those lamps in HK only started flashing when you manually pressed the button before crossing, but now I believe they are activated by motion sensors because I couldn’t find any buttons on them the last time I was there.
It’s also possible I just didn’t look hard enough.
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I’d like the same system that China has in place in major cities, camera system automatically detects a pedestrian entering the crossing and automatically issues a ticket to any vehicle entering when a pedestrian is present! Compliance on equipped crosswalks is extremely high.
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I think speed bumpers are the way to go. I don’t understand why Taiwan doesn’t have more of those around.
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Would certainly be entertaining!
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Motor scooters + local riding skills + speed bumpers = 
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You can make a complaint.
We asked the Kaohsiung city govt to put in a pedestrian crossing signal for us (the community) at a busy intersection near a school that my kids use to cross. They came out at off peak times and then claimed there wasn’t enough traffic to justify the expense. Just like the zhubei example above you can’t tell how long you have to actually cross the road.
Be careful they don’t use that bullshit excuse about not having enough traffic.
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I don’t think the will to improve the behavior of motorists exist.
The only thing that will happen is cops will pick on pedestrians, because they’re the easiest target.
It’s so infuriating that this is a daily occurance here. I’ve always told my friend that, if I don’t die of old age, I’m bound to die in a traffic accident in Taiwan.
Y por cierto, yo sabía lo que significa “puta” pero nunca antes me había visto “hideputa” (hijo de puta), gracias por enseñarme algo.
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It’s an old form, at least in Spain. Not used frequently nowadays.
And yet, Taiwan still overwhelmingly prioritizes the method of transportation that wastes the most space.
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Sadly, 1 or 2 at a time
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I think the real reason is people with cars have money, and people with money makes policies.
The issue isn’t the mode of transportation
In Douliu another car has turned into a pedestrian island. Apparently it has been happening in Douliu/Yunlin a lot recently.
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