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Also, “third world” concept is outdated.
I’ve heard of so many foreigners being hit by drunk drivers in Taiwan over the years, there aren’t that many of us here. Are foreigners more likely to be hit or is there under reporting of huge numbers of locals being hit?!
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Regarding the story linked above:
The driver involved in the accident, a Green Island resident named Hsu (許), fled the scene but later gave himself up to police. Prosecutors will investigate him for drunk driving, causing an accident, and abandoning the scene, the report said.
Dumb twit. I hope they sue his a&& off.
Guy
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Foreigners are more likely to expect drivers to respect the law.
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Maybe more foreigners than locals do the eye contact thing (I’m guilty!). It doesn’t work when the driver’s drunk.
Children are great shields 
Besides, they’re only a step off of the sidewalk!
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Pulling up to a red light, I see a blue truck pulling out of a side street at an angle that means if am too close to the stop line or the lane line I’m going to get hit. So, I stop in the middle of my lane, well before the line, enough space all around to park 8 small cars. Sure enough, he totally cuts right in front and beside me. Sitting and waiting for the light to turn, about to congratulate myself on looking ahead and correctly assuming the worst, and BAM! Stupid kid in a hurry to get to the red light a few metres in front of me clips my mirror.
This is the third time I’ve been clipped, but the first time while sitting at a red light. The first two were because how turning signals work apparently isn’t intuitive for everyone. Luckily no accidents, fingers crossed.
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I nearly got mowed down by a taxi this week at Tainan HSR. I was turning left signal on and that to go and park when the taxi suddenly shot past me as I was about to turn, yet he had 2 and a half lanes of space to pass me on my right. He must have seen my indicator at least, I know Taiwanese don’t seem to understand road positioning at all. Nobody else on the road as well.
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Ayrton Senna once said “If you no longer go for a gap which exists you are no longer a Taiwanese driver”.
True story.
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Don’t even need a gap…they will just force themselves into tight spaces for no reason sometimes. Had a Uber Eats driver almost mow me down as my bus was pulling over to the bus stop. Rhe Uber Eats guy thought it was a good idea to try and squeeze in between the bus and the wall (no sidewalk…of course)…fortunately he stopped. The thing that I couldn’t believe is he did this on a completely empty road (besides the bus) and he was far enough back to have a very clear view of the whole road so he could’ve easily just gone around on the left side of the bus.
Also sometimes have some drivers in some narrow side alley roads (that get narrow to the point a car and a person can’t pass by each other) that try to accelerate into me to force me to hide and fine some cover to avoid getting hit instead of letting me spend 2-3 seconds to walk through the narrow part first and then they can easily move past.
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Last Monday I stopped at this crossroad to check my cycling route. To rejoin the route I was following, I had to turn left here so I waited for the light to turn green for me. Once it did, I checked the traffic left and right and to the right there was only a car far away that was decelerating and a small truck farther away. While I was crossing I looked to my right and saw that the truck was overtaking the car (crossing a double yellow line) and I knew what was going to happen. I heard a small series of soft honks from the truck just before he jumped the red light at full speed. I was already safe down the small road to the left on the image.
I would say that the vegetation was overgrown from what can be seen in Google Maps. Anyway, if somebody had crossed the big road at the same time than this truck, the metal mess would had made Magneto proud.
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Just had a classic Tw moment. Police car does a u-turn blatantly in front of “no u-turn” sign.
Then stops at a 711 to enter it and tell off a guy sitting there maskless, but that is another story.
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I saw cops where I lived in Canada break traffic laws when it was convenient for them, maybe in the line of duty but without the flashers on. Rules are for other peopke when you’re a cop isnt a TW thing, it’s a cop thing.
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Who knows, maybe he’s responding to a call?
If so at a very sedate tempo.
Just a general example of traffic laws being optional in Taiwan.
Classic police moment. Police regularly break traffic laws in Canada.
In the US the police are often above the law.
They can commit crimes and often they would be dismissed from the force while their charge severely downgraded (basically commit a real felony and it becomes a misdemeanor) because prosecutors need the cooperation of the police to win cases.