No license...automatically at fault? Not true

A friend of mine got hit by a car and he doesn’t have a license. This makes no difference to deciding who’s at fault. The car was found at fault and they paid him for damages as well as lost work, torn clothes, pain and suffering…etc. My friend meet with the car’s insurance company representative and they would have known that he didn’t have a license…but it was never mentioned. So apparently it’s not a factor.

The police said they would give him a 6000 n.t. ticket for driving without a license, but they evidently just said that to appease the car’s driver. Because the ticket never came in the mail.

So if the damages to your self or vehicle are more than 6000n.t , then don’t be afraid to settle at the police station just because you don’t have a license.

But then again…you could just get a license. It takes a whole 2-3 hours of your time in total.

Good post, Mordeth. The “automatically at fault” myth continues to circulate, but your post is further proof that the myth is just that.

Also good, of course, that you put in a plug for getting a license. Perhaps I should add that without a licence one would not be covered by insurance, not even the compulsory 3rd-party kind, so if one were found at fault in an accident it could be extremely financially burdensome for oneself, not to mention annoying and troublesome for the other party.

This is not just an abstract notion – I know someone who got in a heap of trouble through not having a licence hence not being insured.

I was told it could take up to 6 month to get a traffic ticket…

Possibly…but it’s been longer than that in this case.

You may well be including commute times, but as an added incentive/encouragement, you should know it can be done in less than an hour – that’s how long it took me to do it two weeks ago.

If you do get a ticket, how do they send it? Regular mail, certified, etc?

[quote=“joesax”]Good post, Mordeth. The “automatically at fault” myth continues to circulate, but your post is further proof that the myth is just that.
[/quote]
Unfortunately, so many myths continue to circulate…let’s work to set the record straight.

[quote=“coolingtower”]If you do get a ticket, how do they send it? Regular mail, certified, etc?[/quote]I think it is normally regular mail, although I had to sign for one.

The letter has a large “window” through which everyone who sees it can read about the naughty things you’ve done.

Once a parking ticket was issued for me but didn’t arrive. I only found out when I went to renew the registration (blue card) for my bike. Although IIRC a few months had passed since the offence, the cost had not spiralled out of proportion and was still only a few hundred dollars. But this is one experience only so I recommend people to pay parking tickets promptly anyway.

[quote=“joesax”][quote=“coolingtower”]If you do get a ticket, how do they send it? Regular mail, certified, etc?[/quote]I think it is normally regular mail, although I had to sign for one.

The letter has a large “window” through which everyone who sees it can read about the naughty things you’ve done.

Once a parking ticket was issued for me but didn’t arrive. I only found out when I went to renew the registration (blue card) for my bike. Although IIRC a few months had passed since the offence, the cost had not spiralled out of proportion and was still only a few hundred dollars. But this is one experience only so I recommend people to pay parking tickets promptly anyway.[/quote]
I believe, unlike in the U.S., they don’t punish you for postal mistakes. Say what you like about backwater Taiwan but in some cases it does favor the ‘victim.’ BTW, I got a parking ticket the other day and went to pay it straight away but I CAN’T until the OFFICAL one arrives in the mail.

I got a ticket in the post for a left turny thingy not long ago.
Proud of my acheivement I strolled down to the local post office to show off my pink slip and dispence with the cash.

“Sorry sir, you’re a foriegner” came the reply stating the blatant fact infront of the other customers incase someone hadn’t noticed.
“You can’t pay here, but you can go to Family Mart and pay there.”

Confused but undeterred I walked to Family Mart which was a mere hop, skip and a jump away.

“Sorry sir, you’re a foreigne. Foreigners can only pay at the post office.”

“But I’ve just been there” came my retort which was met by a slight shrug of the shoulders as another customer rudely butted in from behind.

"Why don’t you pay at the cash machine?’ a friend suggested.

I went to the cash machine. It turns out that foreigners aren’t given the privelage of paying through cash machines - our ID numbers are different and the machines dont recognise them.

I ended up calling Panchiao who said, after I was passed around the office, that I need to come in to the fines section and pay in person.

Has anybody ever been able to pay at the post office or ATM? The kind officer who offered me the fine also said I could attend the post office but he is obviously very mis-informed.

I’ve paid at the post office…three times. Twice for a getting towed fine. And once for a left turn on green.

Question…do they take points off your license like they do in the U.S.? So after so many points your insurance doubles ( to more than NT$30,000 — yes, I said THOUSAND) and then more points, you can’t drive which means you can’t make a living to support your family? Is it the same here???

You weren’t parked illegally by any chance?

Yep, had the bike sideways parallel with the curb so it wasn’t even on the road…more on the sewer…on a yellow line…along with 10 other bikes that weren’t in anyone’s way. I see what you are trying to get at, but there is a big difference between parking on a blind corner on a red line which is illegal to stop on even with the engine running, with a car . And stopping on a yellow line that is legal to stop on for under 3 minutes with a small scooter and positioning it so it’s not even on the road. In my other threads where I complain about other people’s parking I’m not complaining about the legality of their actions…I’m complaining about the hazard they represent. But this isn’t the time or place for this discussion.

Question…do they take points off your license like they do in the U.S.? So after so many points your insurance doubles ( to more than NT$30,000 — yes, I said THOUSAND) and then more points, you can’t drive which means you can’t make a living to support your family? Is it the same here???[/quote]Don’t think there’s a points system. But I read in the China Post that starting this year, drivers who speed by 60kph over the limit or more will have their licenses revoked for 3 months. Or maybe it was 50kph. I can’t remember.

Yes, I heard it was 50km/hr as well. This worries me. But then again…if I get my license revoked…I can just drive without a license…like the locals. My roommate teaches adults and when he got his car license he was showing it proudly to his students. A few of them just said “Why’d you get that? I’ve been driving for X amount of years and I don’t even have one.” Heck…police confiscate licenses and license plates…and that doesn’t even seem to slow people down.

Yes, it seems that many people regard getting a licence as a waste of time. And those banned from driving will always make excuses as to why they should stil be driving at excessive speeds or whatever.

I got hit by a 15 year old on an unlicenced scooter a few years ago. I was turning left at a traffic intersection and he decicided to try an overtaking manouver into oncoming traffic.

When the mother came down to the police station it was all about how those foreigners shouldn’t be driving here yada yada yada and how I should be paying for her injured son. Well she had to pay NT$15,000 to fix the damage to my car, including a mirror. If she had been nice that would have been the end of the story.

Her son was also fined for riding without a licence and riding an unregistered vehicle because the parents didn’t want to pay the car repair bills. The cops weren’t going to charge them. But then as I insisted that the charges be brought, they had too. Mother had sent the son out to buy her snacks and cigarettes.

The fines can be varied by the police and they gave her son the maximun fines, NT$12,000 for being unlicenced and NT$60,000 for driving unregistered, but only because she insisted that she wasnt at fault. Some people never learn.

Moderator Note:

I split this thread and floundered the last couple of pages…
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=27183

MJB

damn. just when it was getting interesting.

ok, so here’s the deal… Anyone now what the fines are for driving a car with no licence… what about a scooter?? I was told that if you get in an accident driving either and you kill someone you will go to jail and get fines to boot…
If anyone has any news relating to this let me know.

someone posted 12,000 NT for no licence and 60000 NT for no registration…

Please let me know…
Cheers!