There’s always complaints about the way people drive, don’t yield to pedestrians, etc. here so I thought it’d be interesting to post a view from a mainland traveler (Beijing native (not me)). This comes from the travel site ctrip.com under the destination review section. I’ll give a quick and dirty translation.
I agree partially. Mainland people are more rude in general, also in traffic. The differences in speed of traffic are bigger (e.g. very slow trucks on the highway, bicycles on the highway are not unusual in rural areas. On the opposite side, at least in big cities in mainland during rush hours there is a tight traffic control by police (with ticketing), a concept unknown in Taiwan. Also, there is no scooter mess.
[quote=“BAH”][quote]Traffic is very organized in most of Taiwan. It’s very relaxing when you drive, unlike at home, even in Beijing or Shanghai, where you have to drive really carefully due to pedestrians, bicycles, or even other cars who don’t follow the rules. We have to concede that we should learn from the Taiwanese on this point. Deciding whether a place is good or bad doesn’t depend on what the city looks like, but also on the people. Taiwanese people are warm, and the “quality of people” is higher. In public places, basically no one bothers others by being loud. People speak softly and that feels good to me. Danshui is a place I really like; it’s very romantic and beautiful. Shops line the old streets of Danshui, and you can taste really good food. The MRT is safe and convenient – what’s more I can see that Taipei residents are very civilized from the orderly way they ride the MRT.
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I’ve lived in Taipei and Shanghai and I tend to agree. It’s so refreshing when I visit Taipei these days.[/quote]Wow! Gives a bit of perspective on things. Very relaxing when you drive, eh? Driving here can be exciting, exhilarating, scary, and sometimes depressing, but I’d never describe it as relaxing. But I’m sure that comparatively speaking, the author is right!
Ever done the M25 orbital in rush hour traffic?
I used to drive to work every day, a nice little journey of 65 miles one way, most of it on the M25…
And I can’t think of a single day I didn’t see an accident or more, some really bad ones to.
I was really lucky and just missed a few of the really bad ones a couple of times.
Driving in London in generall is hell so…
Most of the streets are like the back alleys in Taiwan.
I’m not saying Taiwan seem like a great place to drive in, but London isn’t that fun either.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]Ever done the M25 orbital in rush hour traffic?
I used to drive to work every day, a nice little journey of 65 miles one way, most of it on the M25…
And I can’t think of a single day I didn’t see an accident or more, some really bad ones to.
I was really lucky and just missed a few of the really bad ones a couple of times.
Driving in London in generall is hell so…
Most of the streets are like the back alleys in Taiwan.
I’m not saying Taiwan seem like a great place to drive in, but London isn’t that fun either.[/quote]
Okay, sure there are accidents on the motorways. Huge difference though in the flow of freeway traffic between England and here though.
There are loads of Taiwanese drivers who don’t bother moving to the slow lane so people whiz in and out of the lanes to get around them.
A lot of Taiwanese drivers swap lanes with a flick of the wheel and don’t allow you much reaction time to get out of their way.
Oveall I find Taiwan traffic on the freeways very taxing. I’m travelling closer to the car in front than I should be but have to do it local style or get cut in on all time. I’m always aware that the cars and trucks on each side can do one of those flick lane changes and I’ve seen a number of them get it wrong and hit other cars on the freeway.
[quote=“BAH”]The ridiculous thing here (Shanghai) is there’s a campaign to crack down on PEDESTRIANS! Some cities are starting to ban BICYCLES on certain streets!
Things are backwards (in more than one sense of the word) here.[/quote]
The easiest way to reduce the number of pedestrians is to shoot every third one. Also they are right to crack down on bicycles - there are far too many of them. And they need to double the cost of taxis. I had to walk, walk goddammit, to the Portman the other day and pay a man to get me a taxi home. Who the hell do all these peasants think they are getting taxis everywhere?
Have you read “Mao, the untold story” He certainly thinned the ranks and if he was still around today he’d consider implementing your idea of a good old pedestrian cull and be pissed off he didn’t think of it first.