You see it all the time here and it makes me very “angry” (i.e. shengqi), adult driving a scooter wearing a helmet, their child(ren) on the same scooter with no helmet. Not enough helmets to go around- so the adults get priority, right ? Hasn’t that got to be the definition of selfish … What does it say about the Taiwanese attitude towards their own children ?
As a parent, my instinct would always be to put my child’s life and safety before mine. If there was only one helmet to go around I would give it to my child.
What’s the deal ? Is it legal for children not to wear helmets here ? Can’t imagine so. Or just pure stinginess on the part of the parents, don’t want to have to fork out “unnecessary” money ?
That doesn’t really jive with the way I see Taiwanese parents coddling their children. I don’t think they wear helmets for safety reasons, otherwise I’m pretty sure they’d have their kids wearing them too. Instead I think it’s more of a comfort and/or fashion thing, and as grown-ups they are accepting the burden of wearing an uncomfortable helmet while their children get to enjoy not wearing one. Given a choice between wearing a helmet and not wearing one, I believe Taiwanese parents would overwhelmingly opt to NOT wear the helmet. Just my opinion tho’.
I think this is a big part of it. My friends generally don’t wear helmets unless they’re driving through the downtown area. Also, they told me that only children 12 and up have to wear a helmet. If that’s true, then there isn’t much incentive for parents to force their kids to do something they themselves don’t even want to do.
I have seen more accidents in the short time I have been here, then possibly my whole life. Almost everyday I see an accident or the cleanup stages of one. TW drivers only care about getting to the destination, it does not matter if you kill someone in the process. It is clear that these people do not have any common sense, or care about the value of life. If there is a person lying on the road, they will not stop, they just keep driving. Life has no value to most TW people.
Strange and twisted values, when a culture worships and honors the dead, yet doesn’t care at all about the living.
I was walking down the street a few weeks ago when I noticed a helmet on the side of the road. I picked it up, and the top was completely crushed down so that it actually protruded out the bottom, like it was being turned inside out. These so called “helmets” the TW people wear are good for nothing more than ticket/fine avoidance. They put tupperware on their heads for only one reason; so the cops won’t bother them.
If the kids die, who cares? Blame it on the ghosts. Yeah yeah thats it, must be the ghosts.
Its funny, i just arrived i Kaohsiung just 2 days ago…that was the first oddity i noticed… the scooter has 1 adult and 3 kids piled on ( i couldnt believe a scooter could fit all those people), and none of the kids with a helmet, but the adult has one.
followed by the parent running all the lights with abandon, and swerving in and out.
Getting people to wear helmets is step 1. So the fact that the adults are wearing crappy bits of plastic is a step forward.
Step 2 is to increase the minimum standards of all helmets sold so that they actually afford some protection
Step3 would be to get everyone on th ebike to wear a helmet - a useful one.
There was another thread a while ago about kids wearing helmets and parents not doing and the implications if mum and dad died but junior survived.
Its a cruel twisted world out there and Taiwanese logic is different to yours. Deal with it and move on people.
[quote=“Edgar Allen”]Aiya. You don’t understand Taiwan!
Getting people to wear helmets is step 1. So the fact that the adults are wearing crappy bits of plastic is a step forward.
Step 2 is to increase the minimum standards of all helmets sold so that they actually afford some protection
Step3 would be to get everyone on th ebike to wear a helmet - a useful one.[/quote]
Ok, but are steps 2 and 3 actually being planned? Or is this wishful thinking?
Wait until you see a mother on the back seat carrying her newborn baby wrapped in a blanket waiting at a red light the air filled with poisonous exhaust fumes. I once saw a granddad with a toddler by his side standing right behind a parked scooter with the engine running. The little boy was engulfed in exhaust fumes. A lot of people here seem to have no idea how harmful exhaust fumes can be.
[quote=“Homey”]I have seen more accidents in the short time I have been here, then possibly my whole life. Almost everyday I see an accident or the cleanup stages of one. TW drivers only care about getting to the destination, it does not matter if you kill someone in the process. It is clear that these people do not have any common sense, or care about the value of life. If there is a person lying on the road, they will not stop, they just keep driving. Life has no value to most TW people.
Strange and twisted values, when a culture worships and honors the dead, yet doesn’t care at all about the living.[/quote]
I think you are misconstruing it a bit here. They care very much for the lives of their families. There is a fairly firm buddhist belief, which can boiled down as: Take care of your family and to hell with everyone else. Most people worship the dead and ghosts of their ancestors, not strangers. So they do care about life and value it and honor the dead… but only within their family/circle of friends. Strangers are pretty much right out.
Your point still stands - they’re idiots for thinking that way or rather, letting that part of their culture dictate their actions on the road, but it’s not about to change anytime soon. Taiwanese aren’t very welcome to change - not the people driving the scooters nor the people making the laws.
if i stop next to them at lights, i tell the kids (often 2 or 3) that their parents don’t love them. if they loved them, they’d insist that they wear a helmet. look, your mum has one, why is she so selfish that she doesn’t let you wear one too?
then i ride off seeing the kids asking their mum the same questions.
Well, they all think they’re good drivers and nothing will ever happen to THEM … they drive slowly, most of the time … but they never think about the morons that actually shouldn’t have a drivers license, but do, that could get them killed … :neutral:
[quote=“Dragonbones”][quote=“Edgar Allen”]Aiya. You don’t understand Taiwan!
Getting people to wear helmets is step 1. So the fact that the adults are wearing crappy bits of plastic is a step forward.
Step 2 is to increase the minimum standards of all helmets sold so that they actually afford some protection
Step3 would be to get everyone on th ebike to wear a helmet - a useful one.[/quote]
Ok, but are steps 2 and 3 actually being planned? Or is this wishful thinking?[/quote]
Change of administration = probably not any more :loco:
Guys, you need to get a grip. My grandpa took 4 or 5 helmetless grandkids on his Yamaha 750 up and down main street of Winkler, Manitoba. We hung by our knees from the branches of tall oak trees. We galloped horses bareback. We played lawn darts. We went cliff-diving at the rock quarry. We rode inner tubes down white water rivers. We built tree houses. We drove cars and rode BIG motorcycles when we were 16 years old. We rode bicycles without helmets. We swam in the deep end. We did belly flops off of diving boards. We armored ourselves with hockey pads and played war with pellet guns. We “skiied” on snow-covered streets behind city buses in our kodiak workboots. We learned how to skateboard at high speeds. We built ramps for our bicycles and jumped creeks. We rode snowmobiles. We learned how to ride Yamaha YZ80s at insane speeds when we were 10.
Some of us died. Most of us didn’t. I would never let my kid ride without a helmet, but my responsibility ends there. If anyone tried to tell my kid that I didn’t love them because I let them go cliff-diving or climb trees or swim during ghost month, I’d tell them to go to hell. :eh: