I wonder what you guys think about these newish expanded painted pedestrian paths? I guess this is part of Taipei’s pedestrian safety plan.
There is also a lot of sidewalk construction going on. Problem is, the contractors don’t see to have any workers so the works take weeks instead of a few days. Welcome to the future!
It’s all about shortcuts, and to hell with everyone else.
Guy
The curves seem to activate my inner Daoism.
Hopefully they will also help guide drivers through the curves of life. 
Guy
Pedestrian in Keelung hit by scooter. Uncontrolled crossing. Lots of vehicles not stopping to yield to 2 pedestrians crossing. Pedestrian enters and gets halfway when a scooter from her left comes smashing into her. The first thing the scooter rider did was get up and berate the pedestrian and yell at her.
Cute, but useless
That was my reaction.
But a lane in our neighborhood recently got them.
My neighborhood Line group was ecstatic. They think they are wonderful and hope more can be painted ASAP. There are a lot of elderly people around this neighborhood and pedestrian safety is a hot topic.
Are our Taiwanese friends and neighbors seeing some benefit that we do not?
I think they’re just really big on performative cuteness, culturally.
And add to that, they are not seeing the things we see. They are not seeing how this doesn’t protect pedestrians, or how people will drive and park at will on them*.
Edit: *them being the pedestrians 
I usually have an SUV driving straight at me on my path when I try to walk on the painted green “sidewalks”. I stare at where the driver should be (cuz of course I can’t actually make eye contact) and they (the driver) still try to assert their dominance as the larger vehicle. Raised concrete makes it clear where the pedestrians are to walk and it damages vehicles whose drivers can’t drive properly and want the ease of flying down the easiest path.
Locals and shop owners are STRONGLY opposing a painted sidewalk project on Dapu Rd. in Changhua after the initial work was recently started and outlines for the markings were just put down. They even went on the news to demand that their road safety be given back to them, let them safely go home. Ironic.
Changes being made to the road are the traffic lanes being narrow (1 lane each side before and after), sidewalks and parking bays and motorcycle parking spaces. It’s roughly a 1km. stretch of road.
Originally the traffic lanes were about 3.5m wide. Now they are being slimmed by 30cm to a width of 3.2m. Sidewalk at it’s narrowest will be 0.9m and at the widest 1.2m
Plan:
Before:
Govt. official responded by saying not only are there parking bays, but along this stretch of road there are many parking lots. Also another case of people protesting not realizing that a majority of this space is being made up from the SHOULDER, not a slow lane.
As always, this is terrible. The fact that at such a busy road there is no proper crossing with lights is inexcusable. Let’s not even mention the fact that there are no sidewalks in that area either. Nevertheless, it does bother me that I constantly see people crossing roads without looking or just not being able to recognize that a scooter or car is coming at them at a high rate of speed. The inability of the locals to judge distances and dangerous situations is just mind boggling.
This is a really great example of how difficult it is to change things. In the past, the interests of business owners have almost always won out. Remember Ko’s failed pedestrian zone in Gongguan?
The problem isn’t the drivers, it’s the culture. Today I went down a narrow road on my motorcycle, and had to stop in the middle because a gaggle of pedestrians 3 abreast were looking at their phones as they passed an illegally parked car.
Also, today was a really bad day for red lights. At one point it was green-red-green-red-green-red as far as I could see. Didn’t last long enough to get a photo, but still. When are they gonna import some engineers?
They might take our hard shoulder but they’re never taking our QiLou! Looks like a lot of that street has covered arcades, presumably long taken over by the shop owners.
Says it all really.
Why bother? They’re getting extra green parking spaces now, give it a month.
I can easily think of reasons other than ‘culture’.
The car is there because there are too many cars and not enough parking. Also because the police do not consistently enforce. The pedestrians are in the road because it is extremely difficult to stay on the sidewalk outside of Taipei City. They are looking at their phones because they are addicted.
My working definition of culture is something like the values, habits, and customs that form a people’s collectve mental software. The objective social phenomona that caused those pedestrian to be there flow from causes other than culture in that sense. It is of course true that the objective social reality can shape and change culture over time.
All great points. The abreast thing seems to be a cultural phenomenon, considering population density.
Seems you don’t understand what culture is.
I agree with @Van—that list by @foc is very helpful.
I also agree with @TT that the factors listed, as part of broader social conditions and pressures, are part of what constitutes actually existing Taiwan’s driving culture (such as it is).
Guy
Drunk driver hits pedestrian into a car in Taichung injuring her leg. Has a nasty attitude, even with the police.
Nice sidewalks.
Police officer in Kaoshiung at a scene of a traffic accident directing traffic almost hit by a left turning driver. Officer had to jump out of the way to narrowly avoid getting hit at last second.
Delivery driving unloading some goods almost met his maker as a driver suspected of being distracted smashes in between him and the stores.
#banleftturns
Guy
If he hadn’t parked his truck partially on the sidewalk it might have missed him entirely!
