Legalities of driving in the R.O.C

Zhukove asks:

Is it compulsory to do driving lessons in a car park that as somebody said before ‘is truly representative of the driving conditions in Taiwan’.

No, assuming my experience applies all around, it’s not compulsory to go to a driving school. I just showed up at the motor vehicle department, took the written test, then borrowed the department’s car to take the road test on their course out back. It took about 90 minutes to complete the entire process.

For the record:

Note this information is almost certainly out of date

I obtained my Taiwanese driving licence (car) on the 8 Nov 95 by presenting my Northern Ireland driving licence (unlike the English one at the time it had a photograph) and my ARC, and was within 5 minutes presented with a six-year licence. No test. The car licence expired on 6 Feb 2002, co-incidentally (or not) my birthday. I obtained my motorcycle licence by presenting my Taiwanese car licence on 30 Nov 95 and riding around in a circle on my own bike. That licence expired on the same date as my car licence.

I am slightly confused as to why, years later, you had to go to such lengths to get a six year licence, although I think I remember you pointing out at the time that regardless of what it says on the licence when your ARC is up, your licence is up. Was that the case ?

I got a 6 year car license 3 yrs ago on a tourist visa just by showing my USA drivers license and they never even put my name on my drivers license here. They said it was too long to fit. Did that happen to anybody else? I thought it was hilarious!!!
Not that you really need a drivers license here anyway. Every time I was stopped by the police they let me go - even offered me cookies once!!
Panda

Hexuan got his/her 6-year license back in '95, and Panda had the same good luck three years ago. I went through the process on Feb 10 2002 and was granted a license (my first in Taiwan) that will expire in April 2002 along with my ARC.

Just based on these few data points, it looks like the authorities are making us jump through more hoops now than they used to.

A friend asks: I drove my motorbike off a cliff so I didn’t bother to
renew its 2 year permit when the notice came in the mail. Will this
affect what happens when my driver’s license comes up for renewal?

Only if they cross-check the bike registration with your driver license info. Unlikely, I would have thought – the bike info doesn’t appear on the license.

However, if you trash the bike, you’re supposed to keep the plate and hand it in to the authorities so that the bike can be officially declared dead, otherwise all tax, registration, etc. fees will keep piling up.

I have thought several times about approaching the Ministry of Transportation and Communications about the possibility of granting six-year licenses to all foreigners, across the board, as opposed to now where it is done on a case by case basis.

While I think that this is a reasonable proposal for ARC holders, what about those people on short term visas? What kinds of “driving rights” should they be entitled to?

Does anyone have some ideas on this? Is anyone interested in heading up a research committee on this topic?

I would think that anyone with a short term visa would be serviced with their international driving license. That should cover any visa period.

Richard - you have spoken often about administrative appeals - as the way to get a 6 year licence - and you say it is just an administrative problem to succeed.

In most civilised counties it would filter through the administration that what they are doing is getting rejected on appeal everytime someone tries.

Not to say that this is not a civilised country - just to say that one could expect the same as most civilised countries.

Is not regular success at appeal enough to move the authorities?

As I have stated above, I am hoping to have a formal meeting with MOTC officials to get this matter straightened out.

However, I would like more information on what kind(s) of relaxation those on tourist visas would hope to see.

Richard,

Tell me if you need some help on that one.

Holger

[quote=“Bu Lai En”]I am going to try and renew my motorcycle licence soon. I want to try and get a 6 year licence and am willing to do any administrative appeals or anything to get it, that are within my budget. But what I really want to try and do is to get them to give it to me on the spot. Someone said in another post that he got one. Anyone got any advice on how to do this? Richard do you think taking a newspaper copy of your court victory might help? Are either of Ba De Lu or Chen De Lu offices ‘easier’ than the other? Has anyone else managed to get a 6-year licence?

Bri[/quote]

I am going to renew my license on Friday (May 16) and I will be taking everything with me. Copies of the newspaper articles, copies of 6 year license holders licenses and ARC’s and copies of the Admin. Appeal decisions in the past. I will present these to the Taichung County office in Feng Yuan and see what happens, if I can get to present these to someone higher up than the woman at the service counter I will do that too. Otherwise I will ask Richard to help me with an appeal and gladly pay an fees involved. Why? Because the woman was so rude to me last time - sure I did put on my gorilla suit after she was rude to me, I regret that, but she flat out refused to listen to anything. Anyway, I have to go back on Friday to apply and this time I will go armed with all the documets that Richard sent me.

Wish me luck

Well,

I showed them [in Feng Yuan] all the documents that you sent me in the past and was greeted with :shock: :shock: :shock: . They photo copied everything and said they needed to ask around, they did, Taipei said “NO”. They then said that if I did appeal that it would cause problems for them, but I said that I would appeal anyway and it would make the newspapers in Taichung (showing a copy of your story). They then said that if I did that then they would have many foreigners here wanting to do the same thing. I said - “That’s right!”

Anyway, after talking to them for quite some time they asked around a little more and said that it appeared that some changes were going to happen but hadn’t been completed yet. They would ask around higher up and see what the story is. In short, they said even if I won an appeal this time that after the 6 years was up that I would have to file another appeal to renew again for 6 years.

So, on the appeal side of things … hmmm… I will be looking into other approaches to put some pressure on as so many people have won appeals and nothing has changed as yet.

Yes, they are scared of an appeal, at least the people who have to do the work are, but the boys who make the decisions don’t seem to give a rats ass about it.

For those of you who can read Chinese here is their reply. Nothing new here, but at least the girl in the office went to the top to ask the questions that needed asking.

I was also in contact with a legislator but have not received a reply.

[quote]

Today I went to the motor vehicle department in Shu Lin (Taipei County) to renew my license. I hoped to get a 6 year license but to no avail. They just gave me until the day my ARC expires :cry: which is one year from July.

Anyway, I had a really lively :smiling_imp: discussion with the section chief for about 2 hours. During this discussion I tested his knowledge of the Taiwan traffic rules and I asked him how long a Taiwan driver license was valid, he said six years :laughing: , so I asked him why I got only one year and if my license was different from other Taiwan driver licenses and he answered no :laughing: . I then asked him again to give me six years as mine was the same license as Taiwanese have.
Following I suggested they should print on top " license for foreigners" :bulb: to avoid future discussion because it seems that different rules apply for different people here.
In the end he said that I was right but that he couldn’t or wasn’t allowed to give me a 6 years license :unamused: . I told him that this was pure discrimination against foreigners. :mrgreen:

Next, when I asked hime why I didn’t get my motorcycle license the previous year together with my car license. (I just swapped my national license for a Taiwanese one) He told me that I had to prove with documents that the license is valid for motorcycles over 50cc. (which it is) I told him and showed him that it’s not printed on the license so that I wouldn’t be able to do so.

Finally I think he felt a little guilt. :blush: So, although at first he disputed my request, he then turned around and agreed to give me the motorcycle license.

So, end well … well … not completely. Got to go back next year and spend time and money to … get my 6 years :?: license :smiley:

Leaving the office he apologized and told me that I had a valid point and that he would file a rapport with his superiors. I hope he does and that things will change very soon so we really don’t have to argue anymore.
At all it was a reasonable person.

Any recent developments?

Having got my 6-year motorcycle licence, I’m now going to have to go through the whole rigmarole of an appeal again to get my car licence. Let’s just hope I never decide I want to drive a bus.

I know it’s not really worht the hassle, but it’s the principle of the thing that gets me. On theother hand, so many people have done the appeal, to make the point, presumably in the hope that a long term change will be made, but the point has not been taken. Any point in pressing the point further?

What document/receipt do I need to get from the MVD?

Brian

If you want to get the six year license, you will need the same documentation that you gave me last time.

I seem to recall that everything is pretty much outlined on the first page of this thread . . . . . .

[quote=“box”]Rian,

concur, I ones drove a jeep here and when stopped by the police got freed without even have to show any license. I think it would be possible to drive here as a foreigner for decades without a license. Nevertheless, when talking about truly legal, I am not sure. We foreigners tend to simply dismiss the rules because to us they make no sense and we feel we might get away with it anyway. And they to not make any sense. I was just hoping there was any possibility of sense and adhere to it just for the sake of feeling save and secure. I might be wishing for the stars here.[/quote]

I will NOT admit to having NEVER had a Taiwan licence (will not admit it, nope…not until I get around to getting in in a month or two). That’s about a decade.