Yes, give face to everyone who breaks the law. So you can go home and tell your friends “Well, the motorcycle driver died trying to stop before hitting me and instead slammed into the illegally parked truck. But the police said was not just my fault. The driver should have noticed me crossing the road early enough to stop.”
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Honestly the solution is to just massively reduce the number of motor vehicles on the road. I’m not sure the political will exists either, but someone has to put their foot down. I think it’s about as likely as Houston getting an MRT system anyways.
I think the introduction of the Tpass (which isn’t possible without massive government funding by the way) needs to also include forced reduction in drivers out there. I don’t think the roads here can handle the amount of traffic it currently has. Really the accidents are a result of too many vehicles in too small of a space. There’s simply too much going on.
I think I’d rather not drive here for this reason. It’s too easy to just end up in jail for no fault of your own, and also I really have to have the ability to pay attention to 20 things at once, when I can hardly pay attention to more than 2 things at once.
The 600NTD fine is just what the person looked up online for that vehicle’s plate. That vehicle had earlier in the month gotten a 600NTD fine for driving in multiple lanes or not following regulations which could be driving in the slow lane when not moving over to park or make a turn.
From the video alone if max fines were handed out then probably at least NT$40,000 in fines could be issued. Would be easy to report multiple instances of the same violation since the violations occur again after passing an intersection which means police will issue another ticket if it’s reported again. For people who know the laws well and what exactly to report they could probably push the guy over NT$50,000 in fines.
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Kaohsiung LRT hit again as a driver makes an illegal left turn right in front of the LRT as it’s leaving the station.
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I find it entertaining that the author believes taipei’s observance of road rules and quality of driving is somehow better than in Hong Kong. I’m sorry, but I’ve never felt unsafe crossing at a pedistrian light in Hong Kong.
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If driver is actually looking…then is very hard to miss a train coming your way…not like is small dog running across the road.
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What is this “looking” of which you speak?
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Maybe the tram was hiding behind the A-Pillar 
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Today is the last day for those mini electric scooters that are speed restricted to 25kmh to get a license plate. The two year grace period is finally up. Two years was way too generous in my opinion. Unsurprisingly still a lot of people waited till these last few days to go to the DMV to pass inspection and get a plate. Police have been stepping up to notify people on these scooters if they don’t already have plates to remind them to do so before the deadline or face a NT$3,600 fine for not having a plate.
Still no license required but compulsory insurance is required. Also helmets are required and if I remember right no passengers allowed. If the vehicle has been modified it will not be given a plate.
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Some news from last year about centered turn lanes.
Lots of places have them where they just force everyone to shift over to the right then swing back over to the left which creates safety issues and traffic flow problems.
In Taoyuan last year they saw massive improvements to intersections where they had made changes with centered turn lanes. The simple QUICK and CHEAP change reduced the time period for peak congestion by 63% and improved the efficiency of vehicles going straight through the intersection by 250% .
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Unfortunately, people are still kinda used to that they can keep going straight on left and right turn lanes… And they keep going straight through intersections instead of sticking to their lane…
Just earlier, I had to break quite hard because I was passing a line of cars driving slowly on the right lane of a two lane road: At an intersection, the car right to me suddenly shifted a bit left and continued on the left lane directly in front of me. I bet the driver didn’t even realize that they cut me off…
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I really hate intersections in which the number of lanes changes from one side of intersection to the next. You are at an intersection in the right hand lane. The arrows indicate you can turn right or go straight. But when you cross the intersection…whoa!..your lane has disappeared. If only at the intersection the arrows indicated the right lane was only for turning right…then I would have known there was no lane for me on the other side of the intersection. Just like when 3 lanes turn into only two lanes. Sometimes I really do not know which lane I am supposed to drive into.
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Usually, your lane will still be there, but shifted a bit to the left (or right sometimes…). However, it will also be occupied by cars formerly on your left side because they didn’t realize either that their lane has shifted to the left, too…
Taichung has quite a few where your lane seems like it disappears but off the top of my head one I remember is near the Daya Interchange going North towards Daya seems a bit more egregious. Right before this intersections it goes from 3 lanes to 4 regular lanes (no banning of motorcycles on any of the lanes) here and then on the other side it turns into 2 regular lanes lanes and a slow lane. Oh and the inner lane bans motorcycles again. The outer lane in the first part is only for going straight. Traffic wanting to turn right splits off earlier so you have 3 lanes going straight and one going left.
An interesting thing is for a good stretch here the inner lane, including this turn lane have no road markings banning motorcycles. However, despite this you can’t make a direct left turn with a protected signal, because that’s dangerous for some reason so you have to do a two stage turn and you may only find out last second so good luck crossing over the two lanes in the middle. Also the fact that with traffic you will have have a very hard time seeing the sign on far right anyways.
The funny thing is at the intersection prior to this you CAN make a direct left turn using the turn lane. They even put a sign there saying so. I’ve done this left turn a decent amount and I’ve only seen a handful of people do the proper left turn on white/green plate motorcycles. No surprise though since it’s the only spot the whole dang ZhongQing Rd. going from Taichung all the way to the airport where you can make a normal left turn.
So roughly 15km of road and you can only make a normal turn on motorcycle at one spot. Off the top of my head Taichung only has a few of these where you can make a left turn from a left turn lane with a protected turn phase.
Even the intersection before this one you can still drive in the inner lane and the turn lane, but you can’t make a protected left turn at the intersection. 
Here’s another fun one. Further down the road is this spot. Bans motorcycles on inner lane, but there’s no hook turn sign. So you can legally make a regular left turn here, but as the inner lane bans motorcycles you would have to violate a right of way traffic law to do so.
Near Taichung’s Shuinan market area also have a weird situation.
You have 3 regular traffic lanes that once passed the intersection turn into 2 regular lanes and one massive slow lane.
Then not far after that the slow lane turns into a regular lane again for a measly 60m before turning back into a slow lane again soon after. Which is weird because back in 2021 and before then it was still just a slow lane. If nothing else Taiwan’s traffic design is wildly inconsistent in everythingg but it’s nonsense.
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It still amazes me how a country (and a city!) this rich can look this bad.
Guy
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Well, on this side of intersection is two lanes…on other side of intersection is only one lane. So I end up trying to make my way out of the motorcycle lane into the car lane.
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Come on, here in Taichung we can barely afford to have two more department stores being built in a city full of them. Give poor old Taichung a break 
You’d think with how well known places like Feng Chia night market and the like are these areas would see some more spending to maintain things. Only this past year did we get green sidewalks in that area (still lots of illegal parking and obstructions), but also the road and sidewalk right in front of the University is crap. It’s been crap for years and nothing has been done about it. Apparently people have been trying to get something done about it for 5 years but the govt. hasn’t done anything yet…
It took Feng Chia University and their Student Union putting pressure on the Taichung City maintenance office to get them to come out and perform another survey of the area earlier this year but nothing came of it still.
I guess the main reason this popped up in the news is because apparently Mayor Lu wanted to invite Jensen Huang (Nvidia CEO) to Feng Chia Night Market so it got people riled up that for years Feng Chia night market area has been a problem and still nothing has been done about it despite years of complaints and this being a major tourist area and now the Mayor wants to invite the Jensen Huang to this place?!
Not to mention what few sidewalks we have still have problems in many areas. Don’t worry though, the city will continue to promote off road parking by having vehicles park on the new sidewalks!
Google translated article:
Pedestrian hell? Taichung’s sidewalks are comparable to obstacle courses, “40% fail”, the city government has spoken
Taichung City Councilors are concerned that nearly 40% of Taichung City’s sidewalks are substandard, 5% of which are less than 90 centimeters wide, and some are blocked by debris, electrical boxes, etc., making pedestrian traffic comparable to an obstacle course and turning it into a “pedestrian hell”, arousing public resentment. ; The city government stated that existing roads will be improved and new roads will be built to comply with the latest regulations.
City Councilors Chen Yurong, Hsiao Longze, Chen Yahui, Chen Shuhua, Zhang Fenyu, Hsieh Jiayi and others yesterday asked the city government to improve Taichung City’s sidewalks as soon as possible as the clear width is less than 1.5 meters, reaching 40%.
City Councilor Chen Yurong said that according to the latest regulations on the design specifications of urban roads and ancillary projects revised by the Ministry of Interior on September 12 this year, the clear width of the sidewalk should be more than 2.5 meters; if the road width is less than 12 meters, the clear width should not be less than 1.2 meters. If limited by the current road conditions, and with the consent of the competent authority, the clear width shall not be less than 0.9 meters.
Chen Yurong pointed out that according to city government data, there are 13,921 sidewalks in Taichung City, of which 3,145 (22.6%) have clear widths greater than 2.5 meters; 4,534 (32.6%) have clear widths between 0.9 and 1.5 meters, and less than 0.9 meters Foot 701, 5%, was inspected according to the new standards of the Ministry of the Interior and Taichung City’s sidewalks failed.
She explained that among them, 38.6%, or about 40%, had a clear width less than 1.5 meters, and even 5% had a clear width less than 0.9 meters. How on earth are Taichung citizens going to get through? There are not many sidewalks anymore, but it is difficult to find sidewalks, but it is difficult to walk. This shows that Taichung City still has a long way to go in terms of pedestrian space.
Chen Yurong pointed out that after reviewing the 24 rezoned roads that the city government took over this year, it was clear that the roads were more than 15 meters wide, but 9 of them had sidewalks with a clear width of less than 2.5 meters, accounting for 37%. Why didn’t they meet the standard at once? In addition, from this year to October, the city government has built 6 new roads with sidewalks, but 4 of them are less than 2.5 meters, requiring the city government to improve them as soon as possible to the highest standards.
City Councilor Zeng Wei said that there are many old sidewalks in the Taichung High Speed Rail Special Zone that need to be improved. Not only are the sidewalks narrow, but they are also blocked by debris, gravel, weeds, electrical boxes, poles, etc., making pedestrian traffic comparable to an obstacle course. In order to arouse public complaints about “pedestrian hell”, it is recommended to prioritize the areas around hospitals and schools that are in high demand.
Construction Director Chen Datian responded that the width of existing roads must be reviewed and improved as soon as possible. Some new roads have gone through land acquisition procedures, etc., and there is a time lag with the new regulations. The old regulations will be followed. For new roads in the planning, the Construction Bureau will coordinate with various bureaus. , working towards the latest specifications.
EDIT: Don’t forget the city’s brand new sidewalks!
Also much of the city still has no pedestrian crossing signals. Of course this is a problem in most of Taiwan. In fact in Taichung despite early crossing phases being a thing for a while now many pedestrians in Taichung will only start crossing when the traffic light turns green as well rather than when the pedestrian crossing light turns green. People have been brainwashed by the insane car/motor vehicle first (or maybe ONLY) environment that Taiwan has fostered and continues to encourage.
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Unfortunately, I highly doubt nvidia CEO cares about the ability for pedestrians to navigate Taichung or anywhere else in Taiwan. Those guys will be driven everywhere and live in gated communities. They are not the common rabble.
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In Taichung a guy is mad about getting reported on the freeway. The guy tries to file a lawsuit in the district court demanding that those that report traffic violations have to provide a certificate showing they are good citizens/law-abiding people and a certificate showing they are mentally sane.
The judge throws it out. The guy then tries to appeal and take it to to the Taichung City High Administrative Court saying the district court judge did not remain impartial. It gets thrown out there as well as the man provides no evidence about any errors or violations from the district court judge.
In his attempt at this lawsuit the guy also tried to say that those who report traffic violations do not have professional knowledge and thus the evidence is invalid.
All this over a NT$3000 fine for an illegal lane change on the freeway.
I think this guy doesn’t understand that the police review the footage and verify a violation has occurred before they issue a ticket. Reminds me of the professional drivers/taxi unions fighting against the points system and reports demanding that traffic violation reporters be certified and have ID to issue traffic violation fines…even though police are the only ones that can issue fines for traffic violations 
Very professional group of drivers
Guy drifts over into other side of the road and has a collision with oncoming traffic. Definitely seems like the cammer in this case could’ve done more to avoid getting caught up in it.
Hmmm let me cut in line and just go for a left turn anyways.
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Not surprising when they baby the traffic violators the way they do so that nobody ever has to take any responsibility.
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