Is traffic the worst part of Taiwan's lingering third worldism?

A small follow-up to my post a couple of months ago about Taiwan’s first turbo roundabout in Taichung. A couple months ago it was updated with street view for part of it so now we can get a better look at it. Admittedly I’ve been too lazy to make my way out to that area in person.

As mentioned before there are street lights at the crossing meaning you will have to wait to enter the turbo roundabout.


On this entrance to the roundabout there are turn arrows on both lanes but after passing the street light the inner lane switches to a straight arrow to actually enter to the intersection. I feel like this will end up confusing people here. Honestly probably the only reason they did this is because they used a right turn green arrow light instead of a regular green light because they are so dang terrified of drivers turning left on the dang roundabout so to make sure you can legally proceed through the light they drew a right turn arrow on the ground…


On another entrance it’s different. For redeveloped land and a brand new roundabout I think asking for something consistent across the whole design shouldn’t be difficult. So far it looks like 3 of the 4 entrances are different designs.


Vast amounts of empty space all around the roundabout and random empty lane on the inside of the traffic lane? I guess you can park inside the roundabout?


Along with the large amount of wasted space is plenty of space that should be filled with sidewalk extensions to reduce crossing distance for pedestrians. Also because of traffic lights pedestrians have to wait for the crossing light to change before they can cross.


Street light put right up to the asphalt on the exit. Has a pedestrian traffic sign that should be universally understood. Because it’s Taiwan they also have a huge sign with a bunch of writing on it to explain what the sign already explains and creating more visual noise for no reason. Probably could’ve also moved this street light back or not even have one in this spot to create an even more open view of the exit and pedestrians.


All the exits from the roundabout have a stop road marking rather than a yield. The stop line is also quite close to the pedestrian crossing. There’s is also no physical separation or barriers in the middle.


Inside is basically a park. However, there is no crossing to get there. Also…are they really asking people to cross two lanes of traffic like that :roll_eyes:


Also nearby leading up to this intersection there are many isolated median islands. Impossible to cross from one side to the other. So to get to the other median island you have to cross the street 3 times. There’s a dedicated left turn phase. A crossing to allow people to cross to the next island would be fine, especially if they got rid of all the empty space.

Also tons of wasted space here that could be more of the median island.


Satellite view (before road markings were painted)


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Need to stop is for pedestrians?

Not sure if the stop is for pedestrian or to make the roundabout as slow as possible, but a regular yield would be simple. A stop is just dumb. Still no idea why there are even traffic lights here.


Speeding driver given 2yr. sentence for killing one person and paralyzing another. Incident happened Dec. 2023.

Article has CCTV footage of accident.


Speaking of speeding I saw this on the infamous Wowtchout channel yesterday. Pedestrian crosses on a red and the cammer who has a green light almost hits her…but look at his dashcam’s listed GPS speed. He’s going 89. I know this spot. White plates are forced into the slow outer road section which is limited to 40. So they guy was going well over double the speed limit. He then goes back to confront the lady.

The funny thing is I passed through that exact spot a couple of weeks ago too and I forgot if it’s next to this intersection or the next one but there’s a speed camera there. So this lady actually saved his plate from getting suspended.


Saw a traffic accident last week. Small road one lane each side. One car was turning right to pull into their community parking. Lady on scooter behind didn’t want to wait or slow down. She immediately just goes around, across double yellow, completely blind of any oncoming traffic…and hits a guy on a scooter that was going straight. Guy was holding his leg and he had a pretty painful look on his face.

Police were there super fast. Anyways really stupid accident because of total lack of patience. Oh no brake and slow down/stop for 2 seconds? I’ll go around completely blind of my surroundings.

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I saw a new one yesterday. A woman stopped at a red light. Let me walk across the road…

…then she got off her scooter, walked it across to the other side, hopped back on her scooter and rode off!

I’m actually surprised i’ve not seen it sooner.

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One of the office workers did something to piss off a gravel truck last week. Gravel truck driver proceeded to chase her down, tailgate her, almost ran her off the road etc… I wasn’t in the office that day, but she obviously came in very distraught and had multiple videos with different views to prove what happened. She is the little sister of once of the main partners.

She was going to call the cops, but the bosses in the office said it no use and instead sent a few of the laborers (daytime job, nighttime jobs are very different from my understanding) directly to the gravel truck company.

Not sure what happened, but everyday since the office worker has been receiving coffees, cakes, etc., and the Laoban of the hauling company was in our office yesterday morning basically begging. A bit of Taiwan countryside justice is my guess.

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There needs so be significantly higher punishments for people like this. Absolutely insane.


Last year was a close call with a damn truck doing something similar.

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:face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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I’d call him an absolute prick if it wasn’t for the fact I could be sued, so I won’t.

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Yeah amazing restraint from the rest of the riders. Everythings on camera now.

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Police officer honks at car in front for driving in accordance with the law and stopping at a STOP road marking. Of course they don’t stop when it’s their turn. Small thing but I feel like it says a lot for something so simple and easy.

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Nice corner cut too at the next junction

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I guess he feels sorry and is trying to make amends. That said, he probably doesn’t see anything wrong with what he did and will continue doing crazy stuff on the street.

Encountered this genius an hour ago. When your windows are so blacked out that you don’t see it’s a one way road. Or may be the A-pillar was blocking his view. :melting_face:


White SUV in their natural habitat

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The rules are no rules

Another brilliant driver. 70yr. old driver gets berated by police officer for illegally parking in the middle of the road by Nanmen market and affecting traffic safety and traffic flow and writes the driver a 900NTD ticket. Finally…need more officers like this instead of turning a blind eye to it. Anyways driver gives the “sorry sorry sorry” and after leaving while eating his snack, which he illegally parked to buy, he gets angry. So an hour later he goes back to confront the officer and gets in a tussle with the officer.

Now he will also be prosecuted for obstructing an official and injuring the officer. Can be a 30 day sentence which can be commuted to a 30,000ntd fine.

This is what the officer said to the man when he confronted him:

沒有你們這麼自私的啦,現在所有車子都要繞過你,你沒有對不起我,你是對不起這些人。

Basically you are selfish all the other vehicles have to go around you. Don’t be sorry to me, be sorry to these people.


In another case of illegal parking. Car illegally parks on red line blocking all the scooters from being able to leave. Family waiting half an hour to leave because they are stuck until the driver leaves. Driver proudly exclaims he has money! By the time the police came the car had already left but other cars were also illegally parked there so officers issued tickets to the illegally parked cars they saw.


Driver runs red late really late and hits a car knocking them off the road. Passenger in the car that was hit died.


Car slams into multiple vehicles waiting at a red light. Driver was not drinking. Police still investigating.


Keelung bus driver in the news for honking and getting insanely close to the car in front of him who was stopping to yield for pedestrians. Not the driver’s first time getting in trouble. He’s the same brilliant example of a human being who was laying on the horn against a pedestrian legally crossing the road and even pulled open the window and yelled at the pedestrian. “Professional” driver. The other incident I’m pretty sure I even posted in the pedestrian thread when it happened.

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Jesus, we’re gonna have to ban red lights, after left turns and scooters

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The sentiment is there but i dont agree with him.

Most wont give an F and would do the same themselves.

He should be sorry to the cop, for not following the law. Driving laws should be respected not optional.

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Yet another commonality with Thailand. One place I lived had pretty rampant double parking, and I asked a guy about it. He said if we don’t make a big deal about it when other people do it, then we can do it, too
:man_shrugging:

82yr. old in Neihu absolutely flying down the road and smashes into 18 scooters. Please take away his license and any vehicle he has…

4 people injured.

Dashcam footage from the car that nearly got hit.

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This has it all.
Old lady illegally dumps her old mattress.
Scooter driver with passenger but without license speeds like crazy during typhoon and crashed on the mattress that was blown into the road. One dead.

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