Jiaoxi is one of the best examples of Taiwan’s unwillingness to improve pedestrian infrastructure. The city center is busy enough during the week, but it explodes on weekends with tourists walking up and down the main drag. That’s a great thing! However, there is no sidewalk on the main drag, not even a painted green line. The city puts up cones on the side of the street, which do nothing.
It’s a golden opportunity for a sidewalk, and it has been for decades. The government refuses to act, and so it’s a hellish place to be.
As for the “sidewalks” that exist in other parts of Jiaoxi, yeah they’re always occupied by vehicles and the police do not act.
Good job Tainan! I got a great response from the Xindian professionals to a scooter clearly, and at some speed, riding down a sidewalk;
“違規事實不明確，影像中未有任何證據顯示該處有禁止機車行駛之標誌或標線等設施”
So apparently anywhere which doesn’t have a sign specifically prohibiting scooterists is fine to ride on, I wonder should I borrow a scooter and ride through the front doors of their station? There’s no sign saying it’s not allowed.
Let’s see how the whistleblower appeals process works, I don’t have high hopes.
Try adding a screenshot from the MoI’s “sidewalk map”. It seems a bit silly but it might help and you can point out it’s a designated sidewalk space as indicated by the govt.'s. website/data.
Looks like a car was stopping for a pedestrian at a crossing. Pedestrian starts crossing then the car starts to speed up in what almost looks like a deliberate attempt to hit the pedestrian who barely avoids getting hit. The driver probably wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize it was a flashing yellow and thought it was going to turn red then proceeded to drive off without checking their surroundings…if I had to make a guess, but who knows.
Allow me to clear up what happened. She was crossing the road and the driver politely allowed her to cross, until she got to the A-pillar. Then she simply disappeared from his point of view, so he started driving again. An easy mistake to make and very understandable.
Taxi Union responds to news about public hearing regarding the proposed changed to public reports and fines.
Google translated:
Public hearing on not recording minor offenses: Diversified Taxi Union issued 5 statements: Driving without mercy
The Executive Yuan passed the draft amendment to the “Road Traffic Management Punishment Ordinance” last month, and 10 minor crimes with a fine of less than 1,200 yuan will not be reported or recorded. The Transportation Committee of the Legislative Yuan will hold a public hearing on the “Road Traffic Management Penalty Ordinance” tomorrow (3rd). At the meeting, the Taipei City Diversified Taxi Industry Union issued a 5-point statement, arguing that the improvement of road projects should be the top priority. Before the roads are improved, fines should not be increased or crackdowns on drivers should be increased.
Taipei City Diversified Taxi Industry Workers, Cheng Lijia, Chairman of the Automobile Transport Industry Drivers Federation of the Republic of China, and Zeng Hongyi, Secretary-General of the Taiwan Transportation Mobile Technology Dispatch Platform Association, reached a consensus that the two will bring their opinions to the scene to fight for the rights of drivers. The union emphasized that it supports traffic reform, but road engineering improvement should be the primary task, and punishing drivers should not be used as the only means to improve traffic.
The North City Multi-taxi Taxi Manufacturer pointed out that the differences between loading and unloading passengers and cargo, temporary parking and illegal parking need to be clearly defined. According to the current definition, the behavior of loading and unloading passengers will be regulated at temporary stops, while loading and unloading of trucks will be prohibited because the driver will definitely leave. The regulations are illegal parking. If the loading and unloading of passengers and goods cannot be separated from the violation by definition, at the least it will cause patients and people with mobility impairments to have no rides, and at the worst it will cause convenience supermarkets to be unable to replenish packages and deliver packages.
The Taipei City Polytechnic Taxi Manufacturer stated that the association agrees with the view of the right-of-way group that “there are no minor crimes in traffic”, but what needs to be emphasized is that at this stage, it is traffic planning that forces drivers into the dilemma of violating regulations. Before road planning is improved, , fines should not be increased or crackdowns should be strengthened because drivers are not doing their best for road traffic safety.
The workers of Beidudu Taxi said that as professional drivers, they are willing to contribute to the next transportation reform and try their best to participate in various road planning and design work, such as crossing back and forth, improving visibility at stop intersections and other issues.
Tailor-made taxi manufacturers in Taipei City called on the Ministry of Transportation to clean up the reputation of pedestrian hell. It should immediately increase the fines for motorcycles riding on sidewalks, and issue fines for any behavior that occupies sidewalks, such as telephone poles and transformer boxes, and continue to impose penalties until improvements are made. If a pestle is placed on the sidewalk, the agencies and businesses that illegally occupy the sidewalk for business should also be punished. We should not be afraid of local forces and only fine the driver to make news.
In most large cities where delivery trucks can’t park in front of their destination, the driver parks elsewhere and unloads the goods onto a trolly and then pushes it the rest of the way to the destination.
How lazy are Taiwanese drivers that they need to park right in front of their destination?
Also, dropping off passengers is not the same as dropping off goods. In one scenario, the driver remains in the car and the whole ordeal lasts 10 seconds, and in the other scenario who knows how long the driver will be gone for?
Some no stopping zones only exist for the convenience of traffic, but they don’t consider the convenience of members of the public getting in and out of the taxi. Perhaps they can create a new category of “absolutely no stopping” zones at intersections and other dangers areas, with double red lines or something, and then taxis should be allowed to drop off and pick up at the safer single red line zones. That’s how many large cities in the US do it.
Picking up a passenger (although they do often not consider where) and parking your car on the street, on the zebra crossing, or completely blocking your side of the street (seen it) for extended lengths of time to go shopping or whatever shouldn’t be treated as the same thing imo. I have no idea why the second one is even allowed.
I also agree with the politician mentioned upthread that we should allow parking in no stopping zones between 7pm and 7am or whatever. So we could do something like this:
Double red lines: Absolutely no stopping at any time for anybody (increase fines to above $1200). These should be painted in and around all intersections, and dangerous road sections.
Single red line: No stopping between 7am and 7pm. Parking and stopping allowed in all other times. Passenger drop-off and pickup allowed for taxis only, during enforced times. These should be painted at safe road sections where stopping only inconveniences the flow of traffic but otherwise doesn’t present any dangers. These should only be seen along larger roads with heavy traffic.
Yellow line: No parking. Passenger drop-off and pickup allowed for all cars. Active loading and unloading of goods permitted only if driver remains at the vehicle. These should be painted on most roads with less traffic, and alleys.
White line: No restrictions. These should be painted on the vast majority of streets (not roads), except alleys.
No. Currently there are only three categories of lines: Red, yellow, and white (no restrictions). I am proposing adding one more.
Surely a taxi should be permitted to spend 10 seconds to drop off and pick up in a narrow alley but a delivery driver should not be allowed to spend 3 minutes unloading their goods in the same alley.
They should be the default at most current no-stopping zones, except around intersections. How do you differentiate the two? Double red lines for intersections, and single red lines for all other areas safe for parking at night (which is the vast majority of current no stopping zones).
No shit. I’m not saying they should invent white lines. I’m saying that the vast majority of streets should have no restrictions. Currently you see lots of red lines even on quiet streets without much traffic, where there is also plenty of room for other cars to pass.
