Most Taiwanese have been trained from birth to pass tests without particularly understanding the material. IMO all driving lessons and tests should be done out in the real world on real roads so that good driving habits can be learned in real world scenarios where you can teach them why there are certain road rules, and how they make driving safer. The current test for scooters involves driving around a small loop and using your turn signal at one specific point. No-one learns anything from this, except to pass the test you need to use your indicator at this specific point on the test circuit. Basically the whole system is broken, and needs to be fixed. I don’t think there’s much political will to do it at the moment though.
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So, a cultural issue
Good suggestion, there is still the issue of who can give these lessons
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Consistent with the culture, is how. It is difficult to “educate” a cultural change
In the period January to May, 150,511 traffic accidents were reported in Taiwan, resulting in 1,243 deaths and 199,547 injuries, the ministry’s statistics showed.
The MOTC, which publishes its road safety data on a monthly basis, said it has been implementing a range of initiatives to improve road safety.
It cited programs to redesign dangerous intersections, expand bus services to school campuses, implement new safety guidelines for delivery drivers, and increase penalties for drunk driving.
And what about SIDEWALKS???
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I prefer to think of them as small business incubators
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You know how police never enforce rules here? I’m slowly reaching the conclusion that they are too busy attending to accidents.
But again, I don’t think the data on police business is public nor digitized.
Ambulance lawyers could be a very lucrative business in Taiwan.
Fucking do it now! 
I rarely comment here, but I must vent on this issue.
I live right next to hospital in Taipei, and ever since I have started working from home a few months ago, it’s really saddened me to regularlary hear the sirens of ambulences stuck at cross junctions for minutes.
From my window, it looks like there is never enough space for cars to move over because of the number of scooters packed inbetween them. Traffic continues to flow in the other directions as if nothing is happening. Maybe this is the one junction in Taiwan where drivers need to run red lights more frequently, because even when the junction is clear, as long as that light is red nobody is moving to make way.
The most shocking is when I will ocasionally see scooters overtake the ambulence only to contribute to the blockage.
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I don’t know…seems kind of strange to put all the blame on the scooters. If everybody rode scooters, traffic would flow much more freely. Cars take up much more space to move the same amount of people.
These days, it seems to me like cars and scooters generally do their best to pull over when they hear an ambulance coming. Things used to be a lot worse.
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I’m not specifically blaming scooters here, just an observation.
There’s no space for anybody to move other than forwards into the junction, which they cannot do safely because perpendicular traffic is still flowing.
This afternoon I saw a child (maybe 4-5 years old) standing on the motorcycle seat between a man and a woman. He was facing forward with his arms outstretched. The motorcycle was traveling on a crowded road. I saw that at least the woman had her hands on his legs to stabilize him.
Last week I saw a man quickly weaving in and out of traffic on his motorcycle with a young boy with him. Then another motorcycle with a woman and a young girl was weaving in and out of traffic following him. I noted both motorcycles same brand and type. My wife guessed is husband and wife teaching their young kids how drive very quickly around cars from right side then left side…then swerve in back in order to quickly get around from right…
With such parents how to expect 20 years when start driving to pay attention to road safety?
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Your candour is commendable.
I agree that the selfish driving-forward-with-ambulance-trying-to-get-by is disheartening. What kind of parenting did these people get? 
EDIT: Perhaps the kind described by @Flakman above!
Guy
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I too must vent… having lived all over Asia I think Taiwan scooter riders, car drivers, bus drivers, truck drivers, etc. are some of the most dangerous I have come across. My main pet peeve is scooters riding on the sidewalks. I used to have a dog and would walk him twice a day. I came across scooters driving on the sidewalk 85% of the time. 95% would give way to us, but they were still in the wrong. 5% would try to pass us, rode very close to us or even beeped at us to get out of the way! Yes, I got hit twice because I put myself between the scooter and my dog. One of the worst offenders was a guy who runs a shop in my complex. he regularly rides his scooter on the sidewalk with 3 small children in front and behind (legally only allowed to carry 1 passenger). Then when confronted, he claims he doesn’t understand what I am saying… he is Japanese. I have also come across Americans/Canadians parked in the middle of the sidewalk chatting away with tools out fixing their motos, oblivious to pedestrians who have to walk into the road to get around them. Yes, the locals are clueless to the point of being rudely dangerous, but so are foreigners who learn these bad habits.
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The worst drives I have rode with in Taiwan have been foreigners. Many due to the fact they bring with them habits from back home. Taiwanese seems to have a sense of what chaos is about to happen.
I’ve put a lot of thoughts into this. The only solution is to make a new rule that puts scooters in a single file, in a single lane. Just build a physical separated, raised, dedicated lane wide enough for a single file and no more.
The size and mobility of scooters is the culprit. The proposed solution keeps the chaos in one single file, which means no chaos.
Requires political will.
Definitely doable, just have to be smart. Appeal to people’s sense of pride and public shaming, such as “ Oh the new traffic rule is just like lining up in queues, which you already do it with pride, don’t you?”
That’s the only cure. There is no other solution.
I have thought about this problem since grade 4 or 5. Even at that age I knew something was not quite right.
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That’s great so long as they make it illegal to ride double and actually enforce it.
But during rush hour the scooters weaving between cars in three lanes rather than two will make it even worse. They have a death wish.
So, the sidewalks 
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Law enforcement, which also requires political will, is I think a better solution
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Physical barriers require no law enforcement. In a single file there’s no way to go other than patiently travelling behind the scooter in front. Key word : Regulate. Regulate. Regulate.