Pedestrian Safety & Law Enforcement

Same as “Vietnam is worse” or whatever other country people use to excuse Taiwan’s shameless. So what?

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Did you read the OP? :point_down:

The United States had an official estimated resident population of 334,914,895 on July 1, 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.[12]

The population of Taiwan is approximately 23.35 million as of April 2023.[1]

Also, no way pedestrian deaths were that low in TW. “Maybe death at the scene” and not accounting for people who died of their injuries.

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I can see as possible. Americans drive too fast. I drove from Texas Dallas to Austin many cars over speeding some going 140, with already high speed limit of 120 on the motorway. Taiwanese drive much slower, maybe more small crashes and less big deadly ones. I see a lot of small ones in my scooter, bigger ones when I use the car as I think speed is it. In USA a fast moving car hit you walking not good things happen.

In Taiwan, even when a slow-moving vehicle turns left and hits a pedestrian in the crosswalk because they were “hidden behind the A-pillar”, the pedestrian usually dies too.

There is a whole thread about this:

Here is a quote from a recent news article you might find interesting, which takes a look at 2023 numbers:

During the meeting, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Li Kun-tse pointed out that Taiwan had 402,926 traffic accidents last year, resulting in 3,023 deaths and 539,535 injuries. In comparison, Japan, with a population 5.3 times larger than Taiwan, had only 307,930 traffic accidents, 2,678 deaths, and 365,595 injuries.

Most of the deaths were motorcyclists :roll:

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They were. All traffic death figures include people who died of injuries withn 30 days. It’s far more dangerous to ride a scooter than it is to be a pedestrian in Taiwan.

I sometimes think that visitors to Taiwan from North America think it is extremely dangerous to be a pedestrian here because they are not used to walking in a city unless they are from New York City.

https://roadsafety.tw/Dashboard/Custom?type=統計快覽

Well, you’re taking risks when riding 70 km/h wearing summer clothes and flipflops. Walking should be (almost) risk free.

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What do you mean? New York City is one of the most pedestrian-friendly places in the US. It’s far more dangerous to be a pedestrian in a rural town, especially one without sidewalks.

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I agree about NYC. My point was that I think many Americans from most parts of the US drive so much that they are not used to being pedestrians in a busy urban environment. As a result, they may exaggerate the dangers of being a pedestrian in Taiwan, which statistically are not that bad in comparison to the US.

I hasten to add that Taiwan needs to do a lot of work to improve traffic safety for everyone including pedestrians and make its cities more walkeable and less car-oriented.

They are both bad. Compare with a country with proper infrastructure.

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I’ve never been in the US, so all I know about traffic there is second hand opinions and data. But, I sometimes also raise an eyebrow when I read some comments comparing the US with Taiwan. Nevertheless, USA being a pedestrian hell doesn’t change the fact that Taiwan is a pedestrian hell and it should improve.

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I see. Yes, I agree. I’ve been a pedestrian in both the US and here in Taiwan. Both are about equally as bad. However, when you only compare large cities in the US to large cities in Taiwan, the US is decades ahead of Taiwan.

Completely wrong again.

Pedestrian deaths in 2023:

NYC - 101/population 8.5 million
LA - 176/population 3.82 million
Taipei - 37/population 2.5 million

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-03-11/new-york-city-s-decade-long-battle-for-pedestrian-safety

https://roadsafety.tw/AccOrder?Order=Age&type=行人

I’d be interested to see where Kaohsiung, Taichung, and New Taipei City rank.

In any case, these numbers are based on the whole population of the cities. I’d be more interested in seeing some numbers based solely on the pedestrian population. (ie. What percentage of pedestrians get killed.)

As an aside, it is laughable that according to the chart you provided, Hong Kong ranks higher than Taipei in pedestrian deaths. Anyone here on Forumosa can tell you they feel much safer as a pedestrian in HK compared to here. That alone is already a red flag that the chart may not be scientific.

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This poll is open to all: In which city do you feel safer as a pedestrian?

  • Hong Kong
  • Taipei
0 voters

Hong Kong. 7.3mill. 2.755 km². 12 deaths.
Taipei. 2.6mill. 271,8 km². 7 deaths.

The chart claims to show the number of pedestrian deaths per 1,000,000. However, it’s still not a fair comparison because almost nobody in Taipei walks while almost everybody in HK walk.

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I didn’t read the 每百萬… My bad.

But, it still can be possible. Taipei is tiny in comparison to Hong Kong. Most traffic deaths don’t happen in urban areas.