WTF!
Guy
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Saw this online. Apparently this is in Taichung. Seems weird to have a school zone speed limit be the same as regular roads 
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Not if what you really care about is cars.
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Yeah in the US school zones are usually 15 mph and 25 mph (25 and 40 km/h) when children are present, which means (at least my drivers Ed teacher emphasized strongly) literally any time there are children around. Taiwan is like “yeah speed limit in school zone = whatever the hell you want it to be, just like everywhere else”. Like children wearing helmets on scooters, police have zero interest in enforcing this anyway.
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Repaved road in Taichung. Talks about pedestrian safety being upgraded as well.
Jingcheng’s pavement upgrade: Zhongshi Tens of Millions Flattening Project creates a new traffic experience
Taichung Mayor Lu Xiuyan attaches great importance to road quality and pedestrian safety, and actively promotes the “smoothing project” to create a people-friendly traffic environment. “Jingcheng Road” located in the West District is one of the important roads with busy traffic in the city. It covers school districts, business districts and many local food gathering places along the road. In order to ensure that citizens enjoy a good traffic environment, the Building and Construction Bureau successfully completed the smoothing project of Jingcheng Road (Gongyi Road to Jingcheng 4th Street) last week to improve the smoothness of the road and further ensure the safety of pedestrians and road users.
Construction Director Chen Datian said that since May this year, the water conservancy unit has started to carry out the household sewage takeover project from Gongyi Road to Jingcheng 4th Street on “Jingcheng Road”. Later, the Construction Bureau will come in to handle the road ironing project. The total length of the road section is 870 meters. meters, with a total cost of NT$10 million.
In order to improve road comfort, densely graded granular materials with a particle size of 19mm are used this time to increase the wear resistance and rut deformation resistance of the road surface, and increase the anti-slip coefficient of the markings to above BPN65, effectively reducing the traffic problems caused by the slippage of the markings for motorcycle users. accident; in addition, this ironing project also targets the removal of manhole covers to improve road safety and comfort, and improve the quality of the regional road environment.
The Construction Bureau stated that the city government’s construction team attaches great importance to “road construction quality” and strengthens supervision during the construction period. Especially for the junction of new and old asphalt pavements, it strictly requires the smoothness and cleanliness of the vertical cutting surface, and ensures that the adhesive layer material is applied to ensure that the new and old asphalt pavements are Road surface engagement is smooth. In addition, the inspection of asphalt materials is also strengthened during the construction process, and the rolling temperature and paving thickness of the paving are strictly controlled to ensure the quality of the project. These measures aim to provide citizens with a more comfortable and safe traffic environment and achieve the goal of “rich Taichung and pedestrian safety.”
https://news.housefun.com.tw/news/article/125038441765.html
In something slightly more positive. I saw the suggestion I put in on the intersection improvement platform has finally been implemented. I sent in a report about a stop line being too close to a pedestrian crosswalk (shorter than design standards) and now it’s been moved back. It wasn’t done with other recent work that was done at that intersection. Seems like it was done as a standalone thing so seems like they finally got around to it. So it seems that the system has some use, however, I’m not sure if it’s more useful than using the Citizen mailbox or calling 1999 to complain about the issue.
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Fire whoever said that. Nothings ever going to change if this nation of man child driver coddlers are ever forced to take some responsibility.
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Underage drivers are in the news again as on the 21st of Oct. an underage driver, 17, hits 3 pedestrians crossing the street…the mother, her 1yr. old baby and 3yr. old child. Happened up in Hsinchu. Left turning driver. Fortunately the mother and her daughters only suffered minor injuries and some bruising despite being hit. The pedestrian was legally crossing the street and obviously had priority.
Edit:. youtube link
The woman posted what happened online in a Hsinchu community facebook group. Google translation:
Ms. Wu posted on the Facebook group “Zhubei Big Things” that she was hit by a car making a sharp left turn when she was crossing a green light zebra crossing at the intersection of Fude Street and Tianxin 8th Street, Xinpu Town, Hsinchu County, on the afternoon of the 21st. fly. “I was holding my eldest daughter, and I was carrying my younger daughter in a sling across my chest. The three of us were knocked away. I lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, I found that my eldest daughter was crushed under the wheels of the car, and my younger daughter had already flown out of my sling and landed on the ground. And hit her hard on the head.”
News article has a video of the incident.
There was also an incident yesterday of an underage driver in Zhongli who was being stopped by police fled into a parking facility and just kept going around for roughly 10 minutes before crashing into a pillar in the parking facility.
Tainan is installing lights to show the pedestrian crossing signal (green or red) on the ground. Basically for those phone zombies who are always staring at the ground.
My first thought is…wouldn’t it be better to have most intersections have pedestrian crossing signals installed first before spending money on something like this?
Taichung has a just few spots with these as well, but there are still many places even in the city and right next to a couple schools, you know where children walk, that don’t have any crossing signals.
Previously Tainan and Taichung (probably other cities too) had lights installed into the road, but obviously that has much higher wear and tear due to the vehicles so those things don’t last long. Not to mention with just how much they dig up the roads and repave them that probably adds times and cost as well.
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Reading these posts, I wonder how much the crackdown on criming in Cambodia and perhaps also the PRC has led to an influx of amoral Taiwanese returnees. I don’t have stats with me but it does seem we are seeing more of these types around lately. For a while, they used to be our best export!
Guy
YiZhong area in Taichung. School zone. Sidewalk full of illegal parking as per usual. Once in a while the police go through and start issuing tickets or someone calls in to report the illegal parking and a bunch of tickets get issued but it hasn’t gotten any better still. At this point just tow them. Illegal parking in school zone just get towed.
Also raising penalties for moving other people’s legally parked scooter into an illegal spot would be great as well.
Small bus. Crossing double yellow, driving in oncoming traffic lane, failure to yield to pedestrian. Impressive.
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More embarrassing bus news for Taichung. A student from Taichung’s Girls Senior High School said the bus driver will only let on students that raise their hands. The student alleges that the bus driver made an announcement using the bus PA system/microphone to say that if you dare get on the bus without raising your hand you will be kicked off. The student says that in this instance since only 1 student raised their hand the bus driver only let that one student get on and didn’t let any of the other students get on.
It’s bus number 525 which is run by Zhonglu Passenger Transport company. The company reviewed the footage and the driver did indeed say that they will only allow people who raise their hands to get on the bus and the driver deliberately refused to let people on the bus. The bus company said they will reprimand him and give him a demerit.
It’s absolutely hilarious. Bus coming up to a stop with dozens or more people and only lets on one person because only 1 person raised their hand. Seriously everyone can see someone already waved down the bus…of course you’re not going to have 20 other people trying to wave down the same bus. Just use your damn cameras and mirrors.
Wonder what this driver will do when they are in town going by bus stops where there are buttons you can press rather than having to raise your hand…
Bus 525 is one of the many many reasons I gave up on buses in Taichung and decided to buy a scooter. I never had to take it, but the few times I did it made me hate my own existence.
Many terrible drivers. Expecting me to run 20-30m into the MAIN ROAD with heavy traffic and having to wait for scooters to pass through the massive slow lane. One of the drivers always on his phone on his last ride back into town. He even was looking at his phone for so long he didn’t even notice the green light and it went red again. Oh yeah this bus route and company were also in the news for speeding at high speeds with a bus FULL OF STUDENTS.
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Illegal parking right in front of Chung Hsing University which has a nice sidewalk going almost all the way around the school. Every time I’ve been by there I haven’t seen illegal parking on the sidewalks…there’s TONS of free scooter parking right next to the main gate and just down the road…which is still right in front of the school.
I wonder if the school is hosting some of the English proficiency tests…if so there should still be adequate parking nearby and if not the school should take responsibility and make space available to park in the school campus. There’s is definitely plenty of space in campus to make room for people to drop off their kids to do tests or let the parents park for a couple of hours…
Source:
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At least they are politely tucked away and not blocking the walking path. That looks relatively disciplined given the standards revealed in this thread!
Guy
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Pedestrian hit by an unlicensed driver. No it’s not a repeat of the other previous major news stories, it’s just another incident.
18yr. old unlicensed driver in a rental BMW hits and kills a pedestrian in their 50s or 60s with a car and flees the scene.
EDIT: YouTube news link.
Happened this morning in Taichung’s Beitun district.
Google translation of an article:
Pedestrian in Taichung was hit and run over by BMW! An 18-year-old man rented a car without a license and got into an accident and then ran away… Defense: I didn’t know I hit someone
A hit-and-run incident occurred in Beitun District, Taichung. At about 9 a.m. today (27th), a black BMW car was passing by Lane 240, Beitun Road. The vehicle suddenly deviated to the side of the road and hit a man walking on the side of the road. A 60-year-old man died of serious injuries, but the BMW car involved in the accident hit and run. After receiving the report, the police followed the lead and traced the accident. Within half an hour, they found the 18-year-old man named Bai who caused the accident. They found that the white man drove without a license and caused the accident. He also argued that he did not know that he hit the person. The detailed cause of the accident still needs to be clarified.
The car accident occurred at around 9:05 a.m. on the 27th. A man surnamed Bai was driving a BMW rental car without a license from west to east along Lane 240 of Beitun Road. He chased a man from behind near the entrance of Lane 108 of Sanguang North First Street. A man walking on the roadside was hit and run over after being knocked away. He lost all signs of life on the spot. However, Mr. Bai hit someone and ran away. The man was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment and died afterwards.
The police received a report and accessed the surveillance camera, locked the hit-and-run vehicle, and found the white male driver within half an hour. Preliminary investigation revealed that the white male driver was driving without a license and was not drunk. No drugs or other contraband were found in the car. Samples have been collected and sent for examination. , to clarify whether he was driving under the influence of drugs; although Mr. Bai confessed to the police that he did not know he hit the person, the right front of the BMW car that was involved in the accident was seriously damaged, the windshield was shattered, and the airbag in the car also exploded, which shows that the impact was very violent. , the police are currently clarifying the cause of the accident.
Google maps location of where pedestrian got hit. This always seemed like a bad lane since it connects to a major intersection but it’s small road so it seems like it would have faster traffic coming into what is just a narrow side lane.
I think they don’t even put any thought into it. Just have to leave space so they have some room to drive away when they leave. I mean people complain about no parking or expensive parking, but there’s literally hundreds of free scooter parking spots in that area.
Not a good analogy but I kind of see it like people complaining about people taking a crap in the streets in China…yeah it’s great that you do it off to the side but it’s still nasty and better you just don’t do it all…at least the poop isn’t going to roam around the sidewalk and crash into you or honk at you.
Here’s another picture of a brand new sidewalk. The spot I’ve shared a few times. My friend passed by and told me it’s about the same as last time I was there or maybe even worse. So much space is taken that even a wheelchair probably doesn’t have enough space to pass through. Freaking 進化北路…which recently had it’s English name changed from the pin-yin spelling to it’s translation, Evolution N. Road…“evolution” 
Should change the name to 退化北七路. Not to mention the huge amount of money spent to dig up the and build this sidewalk. Oh and remember this spot already had a sidewalk (of dubious condition likely due to wear and tear of tons of vehicles driving and parking on them all the time). So this is basically just throwing money down the drain and taking away resources from building new sidewalks in areas that don’t have any. Only good thing is the curb extensions…which in this spot still have people parking on the corner and even blocking the tactile bumps that are meant to aid visually impaired people when crossing the streets.
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English article from FocusTaiwan:
Also the 18yr. old has admitted to taking drugs the day before the incident after police found some type of powder in the vehicle. The drug in question is ketamine. He got the car from his mother who had rented the car. A urine test has been done and sent in for analysis to see if he had any drugs in his system around the time the incident occurred.
His middle school classmate said he saw the driver’s Instagram story (basically share short videos or pictures for 24hrs. before it “deletes” itself) and on it he saw the guy and his friend doing drugs.
Oh guess what, this guy already has an attempted murder charge on his record as well. Local residents said he was a troublesome person who was often quarreling with others.
After graduating middle school ceased his studies and he started helping his mother at her funeral home job.
For something more lighthearded here’s a news video from just 5 years ago. Complaining about a sidewalk being “too wide”.
Of course no one gave a shit about pedestrians then, you know 2019 was so long ago .
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Just came up in the news… the younger sister from the incident in Changhua in which 3 siblings crossed the road against a red crossing signal and were hit by an unlicensed driver has passed away.
The older sister already passed a month ago.
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What a nightmare for the family.
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Such heartbreaking news, brought tears to my eyes 
May both their souls rest in eternal peace. They were way too young to leave. I hope their family can find peace somehow during this tragedy.
As for the 74 yr old unlicensed driver, I hope he gets life in prison and never see the light of day while he rots in prison. 
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We know how this story plays out: he says “pai-say” to whoever of that family he didn’t kill, pays a NT20,000 fine, and goes about his life as before, zero feelings of guilt and zero changes to the pedestrian hell.
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English version below.
I’ve been following with story with the hope they’d better. The 10 year-old sister actually regained consciousness a few weeks after the accident and was able to communicate with people, but she was paralysed from the neck down. About a month later she fell back into a coma and then she recently died of pneumonia.
The 8-year never regained consciousness after the accident.
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Unfortunately no going to happen and, given the length of time between the accident and her passing, the younger sister likely won’t even be a statistic.
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