Mindsets

Life Cars & Motorcycles
1

I was thinking about this Captain Stag’s accident yesterday. I bet that if the idiots car was still driveable, pound to a penny he would have driven back over Captain Stag.

Now can any Taiwanese on this forum explain to me how a):

You can actually get out of a car and walk over someone lying under your car and run away? This is not an isolated occurence, but happens time and time again. How the hell do you have the nerve and lack of compassion to actually do something like this?
What goes through your mind when you do it? Because I really can’t understand it.

Even some of the most hardened criminals in the UK would help out someone trapped under their car.

b): How the hell can you have the nerve to overtake on a blind bend. How? You are all so careful about not eating with cancer-causing fucking chopsticks incase you suddenly keel over and die, but you’ll gladly overtake on corners, cut infront, not give way and hop over the closed gates of a level crossing without a second thought.

How do you do it?

c): How can you risk the lives of your locals, your children - everyone who lives in your village by pouring oil in the road to make motorcyclists crash? Don’t you understand that oil is indiscriminate and will make bikes, cars and trucks crash into others, by-standers and your own house?

And if you didn’t pour the oil on the road yourself, why didn’t you report it to the police, question the actions of the doer or clean it up yourself?

Too fucking Pei say, the lot of you. All sheep.

And it’s not just a few Taiwanese, it’s the majority - practiacally all car drivers are stupid, selfish arseholes who are not aware of the consequences of their actions.

I had to ride 600 km yesterday for work purposes - I’m at the end of my teather and I am ready to go out and beat the shit out of the first BinLang chewing fuckwit I see.

Yeah, this is a rant - but I would really like an answer to the questions posed above. Of course, I don’t expect anything from any of the Taiwanese who browse or post on these boards but it would be worth trying to get into the mindset of a typical Taiwanses driver.

2

If you were to clean that up a bit, it would make a good letter to the editor.
Although the best answer I expect you’ll get is “Oh, it was all just a cultural misunderstanding.”

Also, DM, I don’t know where you did your policing back in blighty, but I’ve heard of or seen plenty of car crashes in which the driver does exactly what the drunken ex-con did and walks away, only to come back once the shock and confusion wears off. My old man was a GP who did very high mileage indeed, often with me in tow, and stopping while he assisted at accidents was a very common occurrence for us. Not saying that’s what happened here, but he DID have a bump on the head and it looks like it WAS quite a violent crash. The sober fucker trying to cover for the drunk one was another very common one we used to encounter.

3

Nothing like a good racist rant to help get your blood going.

4

It’s not racist - it is quite clearly how Taiwanese treat each other and foreigners.
Do you want to point out how this post is racist? I suggest you get your facts right, JC, or just piss off.

Yes, it does happen frequently, but as you say it is usually put down to shock. Now I don’t know the circumstances here, but you can see frequently in the newspapers and on the TV people taking off and hiding - or worse still, stopping, getting out of the car to see if the victim is OK, finding they are not and the speeding off.

Getting your brother to cover for you is clearly within the realms of this argument.

Again, it does happen, but not at the frequency it does here in Taiwan. I was only in for two or three years, but most of the accidents I attended I would find that the person who caused it was still there. If not, shocked and walking aimlessly down the road.

The only time anyone ever made off from an accident in my whole time there was when someone robbed a post office and hit a pedestriian and didn’t stop, and when another ran a cop over on purpose at a petrol station.

5

DM,
I would suggest you try to calm down a bit.

This is definitely not just a Taiwanese problem. It happens all over the world, mostly in third world or developing countries, but other places as well. I have personally witnessed the same behavior in Mexico and Thailand.
There are people all over that don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves. The only reason it doesn’t happen more often in the UK and other developed nations is that there is a better chance of getting caught and facing even more severe punishment.

6

JC,

My point is that you say this is a racist post and I take issue with this. This is not a blanket insult based on racial grounds towards Taiwanese people; this is an observation based on my experience and findings whilst living here and many of them are peculiar to Taiwanese society.

What I can’t understand is how Taiwanese can identify something as mundane as chopsticks can endanger their health, but can’t make the connexion between driving erratically and dangerously and death.
It’s not a case of education either. There are biological systems in place which stop people from doing stupid things - can you overtake on a blind bend? So why don’t Taiwanese people actually feel this fear? How can they see gory pictures in the Apple every day, and yet go out and drive like maniacs?

This is what I’m mostly trying to get to the bottom of. Especially as many people who commit these acts of madness are often business people, doctors and other people of high standing.
Taiwan is begging for recognition as good economic region. it boasts fairly high living standards in many areas. The people here are by no means poor or uneducated like the much of India, Afriac and other developing countries. Taiwan sees itself as a developed country, but fails to treat it’s own citizens and it’s visitors like human beings in many circumstances, most notably on the road.

7

I understand what you’re saying. It just struck me the wrong way when I read it. I apologize for flippantly shooting off a remark.
From what I’ve been told by Taiwanese colleagues, most people don’t believe anything bad will happen to them. It will only happen to “the other guy”.

Do you really know people that are afraid to use disposable chopsticks for fear of cancer? I’ve heard the reports on TV and radio, but don’t know of any real people that take it seriously.

8

New to the board, but as a Taiwanese, I would like to answer your questions with the following:

a) This is not isolated to Taiwan. Have you ever heard of “hit and run”? This takes place all over the world because some people are not able to face the consequences of their actions.

b) Ever been to NY where the driving is as bad or worse? Ever take a drive in the mountains anywhere else? Stupid people are always going to be around who don’t care about the safety of others.

c) Did you see someone put oil on the road? You are making the conclusion that the oil was put there. Plasmatron wrote it and you believe it? Does it make any sense that someone would put oil on the roads of their own village where their own villagers would be at risk as well?

It is understandable for you to be pissed off after reading yesterday’s post, but to make comments about all Taiwanese people being this way, that’s going too far.

Please don’t make comments regarding an entire country’s people. There are definitely people who care and who make a difference.

9

[quote=“AYH”]New to the board, but as a Taiwanese, I would like to answer your questions with the following:

a) This is not isolated to Taiwan. Have you ever heard of “hit and run”? This takes place all over the world because some people are not able to face the consequences of their actions[/quote]
His point is that its FAR more common here. And he’s right.

Yes. Countless times over the last 30 years. Point is, the VAST majority of people driving in the mountains here behave like idiots.

Not oil. Diesel is usually what is used because it’s more slippery. And yes, I have seen it several times, as have others on these boards. Does it make any sense? Nope. Why do they do it? To make bikers fall off their bikes and hopefully not ride through their villages any more. Real nice.
Are their own villagers at risk? Nope. They know it’s been put there.

Of course there are. Most of the Taiwanese friends I’ve made over the last 20 years are people who care. They’d also be the first to admit that they’re a tiny minority here. And that’s in the relatively civilized bubble of Taipei City. Get on down with the mouthbreathers in the country and all bets are off.

10

one of the guys here has a nice bottom line: “if it would make sense they would not do it this way.”
i think this summs it up quite nicely.

and throughout chinese history human life has never been regarded as very valuable. there are countless examples for that. why should that have changed?

and as for those questions: even IF somebody could explain it to us we still would not get it.
like, ask a mother that loads 3 children on her tattered scooter and crashes what she was thinking. even if you get an answer you’d still be lost.

i catch your drift though. enough is enough. good way to let off steam. wish everyone would have a guardian angel looking after us like plasma did. hats off for that. period.

CS, wish you a speedy recovery. all the best to you and your family.

11

[quote]Not oil. Diesel is usually what is used because it’s more slippery. And yes, I have seen it several times, as have others on these boards. Does it make any sense? Nope. Why do they do it? To make bikers fall off their bikes and hopefully not ride through their villages any more. Real nice.
Are their own villagers at risk? Nope. They know it’s been put there.
[/quote]

Scary. i’ve been in the same area last weekend returning to taipei and i had no idea. i never heard of that practice either but i believe every word. it just fits the bill.
i was travelling alone with the missus in the back, imagine what…

12

Told one mom on sunday on my way back from shinlin that she should put a helmet on hear two daughters (she was wearing one hearself :loco: ) and she smiled to me and seamed to agree, but gues she tryed to make the strange forigner go away. I was about to do the same yesterday, but the police just rolled by doing nothing and helplessnes just got the bether of me.

13

I think a lot of this behaviour can happen all over the world.

The backing over injured people to kill them is pretty special though.

Mind set 1.

I just injured somebody. Better kill them now. (I can’t fathom this one, goes against every instinct)

Mind set 2.

I just injured somebody. What can I do to help them.

Mind set 3.

I just injured somebody. Better drive away quickly before somebody sees me.

3 happens a fair bit in Australia. It could be killing somebody indirectly, but at least you can understand that it could be panic or a cowardly act.

Mind set 1.

I’m driving around a bend and can’t see what’s coming. I’m going to overtake because everybody else does it this way. I actually had my SO pull out on a blind corner in Australia. She is a very kind hearted person who would not hurt anyone. I’d suggest it is in the training here in Taiwan that is provided by other drivers.

Mind set 2.

I’ll just wait until the road is clear then I can overtake. We have a few nutters in Australia like anywhere but it is very rare to be confronted with the blind corner passer in Australia.

Quote from I don’t know what television show I saw recently.

“You know that bad feeling you get, like when you see an Asian driver coming toward you”.

SO told me the Chinese translation at the bottom of the screen said something about how good Asian drivers are.

14

Dubble post

15

And me too for telling you to piss off. It was uncalled for :blush:

Yes, I know two people who carry their own metal chopsticks around with them because they are afraid to use disposable ones at restaurants. However, that was only an exaggerated example.
More commonly, people would tell me that some of the activities I do are dangerous, for example:

I go diving

Oh, it’s dangerous.

I sometimes hike at the weekend.

Oh, mountains are dangerous.

I fly light aircraft.

Oh, dangerous.

I swim in the sea during ghost month.

Oh, dangerous.

I have an infaltable Kayak.

Oh, so dangerous.

I don’t overtake on bends or drive liike an idiot

Mei Guan Xi.

Yes, but my point here is that it happens all the time here, not just on one off occasions. In other countries, when they eventually get caught they will face severe penalties like a jail sentence and a driving ban.
In Taiwan, they’d be lucky to get a ticket.

Even worse. You’re kidding, right?
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Spain
France
Malaysia
Ireland
Germany
Switzerland
Norway

  • others

No - non of these even come close to the patheticly inconsiderate and dangerous behaviour of Taiwanese drivers.

[quote=“AYH”]c) Did you see someone put oil on the road? You are making the conclusion that the oil was put there. Plasmatron wrote it and you believe it? Does it make any sense that someone would put oil on the roads of their own village where their own villagers would be at risk as well?

[/quote]

There is a thread dedicated to the locals putting oil on the road in this particular village so no, I’m not jumping to conclusions. This has been documented before.

Not only this, but it is understandable too that I would be pissed off at the way I am nearly run off the road every day because of some dickhead driver, or have to slam on my brakes at crossroads because people turn infront of me without indicating or respecting my right of way…I could go on and on and on…

So I have come to the conclusion that the vast majority of Taiwanese drivers are totally incompetent, dangerous and inconsiderate when behind the wheel and have no idea about the dangers the place themselves and others in when they take to the road.

I’m sure there are people who care and want to make a difference, but unfortunately they are totally outnumbered and unable to make any dent in the thinking of the driving population here in Taiwan.
so my blanket statement about Taiwanese drivers and the driving standards in this country still stands:

You’re crap at driving. The lot of you.

16

[quote=“AYH”]
b) Ever been to NY where the driving is as bad or worse?[/quote]

Holy shit that is funny. :smiley:

17

:flog: