The only thing I would do is making sure the laws are enforced / followed.
That would solve most of the problems mentioned.
And I would initiate a compulsory traffic education in Kindergarten.
Ok, that makes two.
Um, no, that wouldn’t help in the slightest. Taipei already tried that; the result was, predictably, a huge waste of taxpayers’ money with no improvement whatsoever.[/quote]
Whassamatter Cranky? Batteries flat on your sarcasm detector? 
Well, all that bunny-hopping I’ve been doing lately has left me a little drained.
I’d also appoint a panel of eminent Forumosans to meet twice monthly at the watering hole of their choice with the task of discussing and hammering out proposals on how to improve the city, and would award each of them a monthly stipend of NT$85,000 to cover their expenses.
And I’d make sure that Alleycat’s was contracted as the sole caterer to City Hall functions, with my share of the 20% markup remitted to a numbered bank account in a friendly offshore location.
But most importantly, I’d crack down heavily – and I do mean heavily, with an iron fist, without fear or favour, mark my words – on corruption and cronyism in the city administration.
Why? I ride around the city on two wheels because it’s quicker and more practical than it would be on four. You want me to buy a car and sit in the inevitable jams forever? Or do you want me to drive my moto out of the city and then take a bus back in?[/quote]
A lot of the congestion, in my opinion is caused by all the scooters riding in disorderly fashion all over the road and sidewalk, clogging intersections when the light turns green, etc. If that were removed, I think the flow of traffic would be a lot smoother. Of course, that is not the only reason for the congestion, there surely are other issues that need to be addressed, but I think removing the scooters would go a long way to solving the problem. Again, IMHO.
To answer the second part, assuming scooters weren’t allowed, then you wouldn’t have to worry about riding your scooter out of the city, then bussing back in. Then, if that were the case, you would either walk, take taxis, buy a car, or take public transit. I get along just fine w/o owning a scooter, and use a combination of all 4 of the above. As one poster mentioned, is public transit really that bad?
Large congested cities with large population density and main streets sometimes narrower than Taipei’s get along fine without large numbers of scooters. (New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc.). Traffic in these cities isn’t any worse than Taipei.
Absolutely, the car isn’t the answer to everything. But, again, one can get along just fine with a combination of taxis and public transit, and, yes, a car, when the situation calls for it.
Again, not totally about banning scooters so as to give favor to cars. I am also against using cars in situations where it’s unwarranted, and based on the need at hand, I will often times take a cab or MRT/Bus ahead of driving the car.
What about those lanes that explicitly say “Scooters Prohibited” in huge block characters on the road. I was referring to situations where the road is being hogged by a lone scooter or two riding at their own leisurely pace where they shouldn’t be to begin with. The right lane surely, can be shared between cars and scooters, and if the scooters wouldn’t try to pass right lane cars on the right, it would lessen (but probably not eliminate) the problem of the car turning right cutting off a scooter. At least, in the US, the motorcycle rider rides behind the car in the right lane, and when the car wants to turn, the motorcycle either slows down and allows the car to turn, or passes on the left, and usually can do so without going into the left lane for extended periods of time. A lot can be solved by not having scooter riders ride abreast to the right of cars in the right lane, or trying to pass them on the right, in the right lane.
As a sidenote, I think as the new MRT lines come online one by one, and as the system construction nears completion some 10-12 years from now, the scooter problem will gradually solve itself. When you can get from just about any point in the city to any other point in the city by MRT, there’s less incentive to want to ride a scooter, or drive a car when you can travel around quickly without fighting traffic, finding parking, etc.
Oh, if only that were true; then we two-wheelers wouldn’t have to adhere to any laws whatsoever. [/quote]
Well, you see scooters violating the laws a lot more than cars, like riding the wrong way down a one way street, illegal turns, etc. Parking on the sidewalk could be argued too. I guess in Taiwan, anything goes if you don’t get pulled over, so I should reword to say that scooters should be held accountable for the same laws as cars, to the same degree that cars are held accountable.
Only if cars can only drive in their lanes and are never allowed to use scooter lanes. Fair is fair.[/quote]
Yes, absolutely. Allowing cars to drive in the scooter lanes kind of defeats the purpose.
Then cars that are slower than the 85th percentile of two-wheeled traffic should yield to it.[/quote]
Scooters can easily pass a car on the left. It’s not as easy for a car to pass a single (or a couple) scooter(s) leisurely hogging the entire lane.
Banning cars would be far, far more effective in unclogging traffic than banning scooters. I drive both, and Ben, those disorderly people you see on scooters? They’re exactly the same people that are driving cars. Car drivers here in fact appear to be even MORE disorderly than scooters, as they’re bigger and have less chance of coming off worst in an accident.
What Sandman said.
Biggest vehicles to smallest:
Scooters
Cars
Blue trucks
Buses
Gravel Trucks
Least to most dangerous drivers:
Scooters
Cars
Taxis
Buses
Blue Trucks
Gravel Drivers
Brian
Complete and utter balderdash! One of the most absurd and inaccurate statements I have ever seen on Forumosa. But I suppose you’re just being mischievous and winding us up, you naughty devil, you!
Sandman’s and Brian’s comments describe the situation far more accurately. Remove all four-wheeled and larger vehicles from the roads, and those roads would be transformed into free-flowing streams that would present much less danger to anyone on or near them, while all of the city’s parking problems would be almost completely solved.
Ah, if I were mayor…
I’d ban ALL single passenger cars during the hours of 7 to 9 am and again from 5 to 8 pm. 2 stroke motorcycles would be illegal. I would line the streets with legal parking slots for motorcycles, so that sidewalk parking could be kept to a minimum. I would strictly enforce emission standards on public and private vehicles. I would implement Hanyu Pinyin on all street signs. I would make taxi licenses harder to acquire. I would outlaw every aspect of the betelnut trade - cultivation, selling and consumption. I would regulate the kinds of material used in constructing sidewalks - no more slippery-when-wet glistening marble blocks… I would consolidate Taipei’s 40-odd bus companies into one public company, with uniformed professional bus drivers who got paid in wages instead of by “laps completed”. I would license buskers - success would depend on an audition. Prostitution would be legalized, but hostess bars, pimps and mama-sans would be outlawed. I would reintroduce proper video game arcades. I would ban firecrackers except for double ten day and Chinese New Year’s Eve. I would make swimming lessons compulsory for all children under 15. I would subsidize the spaying and neutering of all pets, and make it compulsory, unless a heavy fee were paid first. All roadside food vendors would be regulated, licensed and subject to surprise inspections. I would prohibit public school teachers from teaching in buxibans. I would instruct police to aggressively enforce driving infractions. Hmmm. I’m sure there’s more…
CLEAN UP THE FUCKING KEELUNG AND TAMSHUI RIVERS!!!
I hope that you would make it easier to acquire and operate larger, four-stroke motorcycles. I’m not talking about just anyone walking in and riding off, licensing should still be strict, but the monetary cost and purposeful bureaucratic obstructions (NT$8,000 just to take the test, not being allowed on expressways, etc.) should be lessened. Again, that might be a higher-level government function.
OK, I’ll vote for Maoman. How many signatures do you need to formally stand for mayor?
But can’t we at least have the girls in glass booths?
If I’m not mistaken, don’t most scooters in Taiwan have 2-stroke engines? If this is the case, then even a brand new scooter in top condition will be more polluting than the average passenger car engine. And, we all know, that not all the scooters in Taiwan are running in top shape!
Complete and utter balderdash! One of the most absurd and inaccurate statements I have ever seen on Forumosa. But I suppose you’re just being mischievous and winding us up, you naughty devil, you! [/quote]
:mrgreen: Hah, yeah, maybe a little. As I said, I fully expected a lot of flames.
To state more clearly what I was thinking, scooters are more tolerated when they do more blatant things, for example riding/parking on the sidewalk (but I have seen cars to it too on occasion), going the wrong way down a one way street, and illegal turns, as a few examples. It’s tolerated if it is a scooter. If a car did those things, horns would blare and tempers would flair.
I think designated parking areas for scooters would still be necessary, otherwise things would still be a mess. And, keeping the sidewalks clear for pedestrians, and giving pedestrians right of way might be good. And, if scooters and cars all had their own dedicated lanes that the other could not operate in, I think that would go a long way to solving a lot of problems.
I hope that you would make it easier to acquire and operate larger, four-stroke motorcycles. I’m not talking about just anyone walking in and riding off, licensing should still be strict, but the monetary cost and purposeful bureaucratic obstructions (NT$8,000 just to take the test, not being allowed on expressways, etc.) should be lessened. Again, that might be a higher-level government function.[/quote]
Agreed, I’d love to be able to have a nice 600cc motorcycle for reasonable registration/tax cost, and be able to take it everywhere.
The city government build lot’s of scooter bays last year but it’s not sufficient to cope with the amount, actually I think there isn’t enough place to create a ‘legal’ parking space for each scooter commuting into town each day. A bit more consideration by the scooter drivers would help already, most areas are wide enough to cater for both, pedestrians (“inside”) and scooters (“outside”). Unless of course the space is taken up already by repair shops, restaurants etc …
Cars do those things all the time, and cause much more mayhem and danger than two-wheelers when doing so.
Sure, keep all existing designated car-parking spaces for exclusive use by two-wheelers only, and tow away any that park outside them. As you can park as many as eight two-wheelers in the space taken up by one average-sized car, there’ll be plenty of space for all and some to spare.
Before the red light turns green, please give people in the right lane half a chance to turn. This can easily be done by installing a green-right-turn light. A small handful of intersections have these installed, but not enough. Instead, the red turns to green and it’s a mad joust as the people trying to turn right fight to cross the road before the people who want to go straight cut them off. This is insane. Install the green-turn lights and those who want to make a right turn have the time to do so, and after the green-turn lights switch off, make it illegal to make a right turn. Why don’t they have that option built into all the traffic lights? That’s standard practice back home in the U.S.
You mean turn right or left? That said I have seen some intersections with arrows indicating when it’s time to go - nobody cares though and drivers just follow any light that’s green to make a turn.
As said before the key is not to make change rules or make new ones but rather to enforce the existing ones.