Was that what that big flash of light was as I careened around the wrong side of a car last night?
I was begining to fear I’d been kidnapped by aliens or nearly struck by phosphorescent lightning. NOw I know I have a fine to look forward to.
Goodie.
I never use the bike only lane. It’s fucking dangerous. I’d gladly pay the fines rather than:
Hit the inevetable scooter banding out from between two parked cars without looking.
Hit the poor stray dog.
Hit the dumb arse pedestrian. Theres always one that appears infront of you as if by magic.
Hit the car coming out of the turning with the “I’m a car, I don’t need to stop for bikes” mentality.
Get squashed by the bus that suddenly decides to pull to the side of the road while you are parrallel with it on the inside.
Get hit by the taxi whose driver is looking for his next fare, not the road. Then get hit agin by his baseball bat because I happened to be in the way.
Get hit by cars which over take you then turn right.
The list is endless…
Drive in the car lane? You bet! Won’t catch me in the death lane.
Dangermouse, I couldn’t agree more. Scooter lane and right lane is where you die. I would wager that your chances of getting nailed are 80% in those lanes. There is no driver education in Taiwan. Taiwanese just DON’T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE. Add to it that bus drivers get a bonus based on how many laps around the city they do and how idiotically taxis drive both when they have passengers and when they don’t, and the streets of Taipei -especially the right lane, where scooters are supposed to be- is suicidal, because the busses and taxis need to pull over and pull out for passengers. Taiwan’s gov. has it all wrong. The speed lane should be for scooters, not busses. They’re asses.
Absolutely !
I wouldn’t dream of riding right on the inside lane on a motorbike anywhere. I can think of a few more dangerous things to do, but not many.
My experience is quite the opposite (in rush hour at least). Taxis take twice as long as scooter. I’ve had a lot of experience of this (eg buy something at B&Q Neihu - wife carries it home in a taxi - I race her home to be able to carry it out of the taxi - I’m home 5 minutes before her). I’ll race you your Yonghe to Nanjing Fuxing if you like. I’ll put a doxen on it (must be rush hour).
Brian
Taking a taxi to work is probably cheaper than owning a car at any rate…
I’ve beaten all comers, on bikes or cars, between any destination in Taipei. I attribute that to my bike (Yamaha 250) and, if I do say so myself, phenomenal riding skills. Taking the bike from Lotus Hill in Xizhi to Tianmu saved 20 minutes as opposed to me taking the car. With a bike, I’m at the front of the line at every red light. WHen it turned green, I’d quickly leave everyone far behind me. I can’t wait to get another “super scooter”. My Honda Civic is nice for its stereo and air conditioning, and I sure do appreciate it when it’s pouring outside, but it sure isn’t as much fun as the 250 was.
Just wanted to add that in Taoyuan County they don’t enforce the motorcycle lane rule…
I find riding or driving in Taipei requires some modification to my normal Taiwan hillbilly driving/riding style…Especially the no right turn on red. Also, few people down here pay any attention to the scooter box or the motorcycle two-turn at major intersections.
Curious as to how well these rules are adhered to/ignored in other areas outside of Taipei…
Check out This movie of some nutter driving with one hand, and filming it with the other while weaving in and out of traffic 
Wow, I gotta say, that’s quite impressive in the jungle we call Taipei traffic, especially with all the other scooters around.
People have given some good reasons for not riding in the right lane. Does this apply to the center lane of a 3 lane road too? Most of the time, a road will have at least 3 lanes before they make one lane a “scooter prohibited” lane.
Anyway, fair/justified or not, rules are rules, even if they are enforced sporadically. If you are unlucky enough to get caught breaking them, there really isn’t much you can do but pay the fine and hope you don’t get caught the next time.
:happybiker: 
[quote=“Michael J Botti”]
Curious as to how well these rules are adhered to/ignored in other areas outside of Taipei…[/quote]
I don’t think the concept of road rules has filtered through to the Tainan. Only one rule in Tainan… size matters.
[quote]You’re mad. I did it every day for six months. All I do in a taxi is go over Zhong Zheng bridge, turn right onto the car-only slip road, and join Jianguo at the Shi-Da and Ding Zhou intersection. From there it’s ten minutes.
On a bike you’d have to go all the way down Heping and all the way up Fuxing - traffic lights galore. 25 minutes obeying the law. 15 riding like Barry Sheen and running the reds. Including a knee-down left turn from Heping onto Fuxing as the lights change. It’s great actually. Ahem.[/quote]
Nah, the Jianguo expressway is very slow in rush hour. My way has mroe lights, but it’s a shorter distan\ce, and you avoid the lights:
Straight overthe ZZ bridge (possible red, but very short), free right hand turn through alley on to Dingzhou, turn left onto Heping at Xiamen or Guling, depending on the lights, so that you don’t have to wait for them (can usually be done without having to make an illegal right). If you time it right the lights will just be going green at Nanchang and Roosevelt intersections with Heping (but that’s one possible red), easy to make it from there to Xinsheng without a red. Red at Xinsheng. Wait a little for left at Jianguo. From Jianguo/Heping you’ll make it to the overpass with one red and a right onto Nanjing (or via lanes to avoid the red), then should get to Fuxing in one go. I’d say 15 minutes.
Fuzhou - Aiguo - Xinyi can be quicker too, but it’s more variable. But when it works it’s great. I got from central Banqiao to Shida in 10 minutes without having to stop for a single red light (at lunchtime) a few months ago going that way.
But you say 10 minutes by taxi. Is that really rush hour? It’s always taken me much longer on that route. It took me 40 minutes from ZZ bridge to Zhongxiao Sogo a couple of months ago when I got my eyes doen (I know because I was late for my appointment). We should try it sometime. It’ll be fun.
Brian
In 4 years here a few things changed - if you fart in your car it is now $3000 on the freeway - drink driving was about $2000 - now $30,000 to $60,000 or more if you have an accident while drunk.
Drivers behind you in Jilong used to honk if you stopped at a red light - that seems to have stopped.
If you are worried about the telephoto cameras - watch out for the train stations on Fuxing Lu - I have seen them there often - just made the connection.
[quote]If you are worried about the telephoto cameras - watch out for the train stations on Fuxing Lu - I have seen them there often - just made the connection.
[/quote]
Yep, got snapped twice by a copper hiding on the Fuxing/Nanjing MRT station. Once I figured it out I (childishly, I admit) used to deliberately ride just over the line and back in a couple of times so he couldn’t quite get a picture then pull over and wave. 
Brian
[quote=“Bu Lai En”][quote]If you are worried about the telephoto cameras - watch out for the train stations on Fuxing Lu - I have seen them there often - just made the connection.
[/quote]
Yep, got snapped twice by a copper hiding on the Fuxing/Nanjing MRT station. Once I figured it out I (childishly, I admit) used to deliberately ride just over the line and back in a couple of times so he couldn’t quite get a picture then pull over and wave.
Brian[/quote]
I’ve got a photo of the cop taking the picture. If someone will host it (Maoman?) I’ll email to him / her.
Yep, that’s the same twirp who got me, both times.
[quote=“Maoman”]Sure. Send it over…
Maoman at forumosa.com[/quote]
Done. I sent it high resolution - you may need to crop it or whatever.
