Police in Taiwan
The American definition of a police officer is one who serves and protects. It seems like common sense that the polices
classic scene yesterday seen from a taxi on shipai road, passing minor traffic jam we see guy attempting to push his dead horse, wife at the wheel, bus jammed up right behind him waiting, cops in car at side of road busy writing up ticket, me and taxi driver exchanged one look and shake of head
i agree 100% with the opinion that you should be able to turn right on a red, but there is the small matter of looking before you do that, which seems unlikely to start happening any time soon. remember, it’s the driver who barrels into the ass-end of the non-looker who is at fault, even though they didn’t look as cut you off. so i guess that here, also the only country that i know that has this rule, it has it’s part to play.
if driving lessons ever included common sense like looking before you turn/switch lanes, (or perhaps GASP a road test with other drviers), maybe, just maybe, this asinine law could be recinded. don’t hold your breath though 
see more in the vroom vroom forum.
The police here are lazy and stupid and most people get away with major traffic offences like running reds or driving down the wrong side of a busy road. But you put your wheel 2 inches over that white line at the junction and well…it’s a deportation case.
You can’t turn right on a red in the UK. But in the UK rules are mostly respected, traffic drives fast, juctions are blind and are not usually a right angle shape and traffic lights are only placed where they are really needed, unlike in taiwan where they are placed at every damn juction, busy or not.
I got my first ticket last week for not doing that stupid two point left turn - the one where you have to wait at the junction across the road on red and then go, instead of doing a straight left turn. 600 bloody NT.
I pretended not to speak Chinese. When he spoke English I pretended to be French and then got caught out when he threatened to take me in for not having ID - I showed him my ARC. I’m English 
If you had been blessed with Canadian nationality, you might have gotten away with it. 
I agree. The trouble with policing of traffic in Taiwan is not that it is under-policed, but that, in order to make money, the ticket tyou for the infractions that are easiest to catch you for and clear-cut. So turning right at a red is what they go for, while they ignore dangerous weaving, u-turning in the middle of a busy road etc,
Just one thing though - it’'s not legal to turn right at a red in most countries. I know that in NZ and the UK you can’t turn left at a red (a left hand turn being the equivalent of a right here, because we drive on the opposite side).
Brian
I’ve been popped for the one step left a few times…I’ve yet to be ticketed for it though. Actually, I got nailed this morning after finishing class. It went something like this:
Policeman directing traffic: “You can’t do that here…Oh, it’s you. Will you stop doing that in front of the police station?”
Me: “Sorry, I keep forgetting. Besides, it’s dangerous.”
Policeman: “Next time I really am going to give you a ticket.”
Me: “Ok…Sorry.”
We do this same speel about 3 days a week. Sometimes it’s nice to live in a small town… 
You guys moaning about lack of or spotty enforcement in Taipei is hilarious. Come down to Tai/chung and witness the cops themselves riding scooters the wrong way up one-way streets, riding at night with no lights, stopped on pedestrian crossings and 101 other infractions. OTOH you could say it’s great that there’s such equality between the citizens and constabulary of our fair city. I live in a street so choked with double and illegally parked cars it causes several accidents a week, but no amount of phone calls will get the cops or the city to do anything about it.
Oh yeah, and expect this cash cow to be milked even more frequently as CNY approaches.
[quote=“Dangermouse”]
The police here are lazy and stupid and most people get away with major traffic offences like running reds or driving down the wrong side of a busy road…[/quote]
exactly and you can add corrupt and incompetant to that list…
I was riding down TaiChungGangRd. one night on the scooter, came through the orange light since it was too late to slow down safely for the red (which is the purpose of orange lights) and out jumps a gimp waving a mini light saber traffic flashlight thingy in my face… i slow down and start pulling over, fully prepared to tell them off about the function of orange lights when the impudent little shit hits me on the helmet with his light saber thingy… since it’s a brand new NT$20K Shoei helmet I was obviously livid… I get off and unleash a barrage of “what the hell are you thinking hitting me, i was pulling over, that’s assault and this helmets worth more than you make a month etc…” in fairly flawless chinese…
the three lacky’s instant and aggresive response is “he’s been drinking” and a very small man with a very big gun staggered over doing his best Stallone impression… whilst another said “foreigners are always drunk” in Taiwanese whilst he got out the breathalizer… I told him that some foreigners understand Taiwanese and I had not had even a single drink that night and asked if they were racist or otherwise prejudiced against foreigners, again in my best chinese… this had them on the back foot instantly… about this time and still with maximum hostility, they checked my ARC and licence… asking if i was an english teacher, and what school i worked for… the second they found out I was not an English teacher, but held a fully legal managerial position in a Taiwanese company, could speak fluent Chinese, and was explaining to them that I would be filing a complaint against them with their section chief for hitting me and speaking to our company’s lawyer about a lawsuit, they instantly became my best friends… the breathalizer was put away, cigarettes were offered and the guy who hit my helmet was patting me on the shoulder saying he ‘accidentally’ didn’t move the light saber in time… no big deal etc. etc…after 5 mins of half arsed, “pai-sei grins” and “wow you can speak chinese”, meaningless face saving drivel i was on my way, unticketed…
a small scale example of the principal that means that Taiwanese cops will never pull over a black Benz with tinted windows… f*ckers…
[quote=“plasmatron”]
a small scale example of the principal that means that Taiwanese cops will never pull over a black Benz with tinted windows… f*ckers…[/quote]This was seen most clearly back when Chen Chinshin was on the lam and every cop in Taiwan was on a street corner pulling over every single scooter pilot who looked least like him, and then fining the poor saps for whatever minor infraction possible. Meanwhile the black Benzs roared past unmolested, as did any slightly pudgy skinheads. Tai/chung’s finest raked in a record turnover on expired licenses and missing helmets while failing to capture any dangerous fugitives.
Well, you know, given the traditional close ties between organized crime and the organs of KMT government, it is bad form to pull those mafia staff cars over. Biting the hand that feeds you can lead to severe embarassment…
Most locals don’t know about this situation. I was speaking to a rather well known protestor. Who regularly gathers up people and goes to Taipei to protest about different things. I asked him why is he so concered with the politics in Taipei when the police in his home town are so corrupt and negligent. He said “oh, well only some of the police are bad…maybe 50%.” Those of us with some common sense know this figure to closer to 95-99%.
When I taught at David’s English Center my adult students would more often than not claim ignorance when told their police force was corrupt.
My protestor friend did say that if I gathered some evidence on video he has many friends in News broadcasting that would definitley be interested.
So why don’t we all stop complaining (even though I started it ) and start shooting the cops! Uh, with cameras that is… 
. I’ve thought about taping them in the past myself…maybe someone out there already has some footage? Well, it’s an idea…pressure from the media…especially on a regular basis WOULD do something…like get me deported most likely 
.
[quote]First of all, I don
[quote=“mesheel”][quote]First of all, I don
It’s been done time and again…newspapers showing police cars going through red lights, parked on red lines giving tickets to other cars, turning right on red, going down the wrong side of the road. Trouble is, no one give a damn.[/quote]
[quote=“iris”][quote=“mesheel”][quote]First of all, I don
[quote=“Mordeth”]Well, it’s an idea…pressure from the media…especially on a regular basis WOULD do something[/quote]Yeah, that ‘60 minutes’ type show did a skit the other day on official vehicles parked outside the the Miaoli city hall on reds, on pedestrian crosswalks etc. All were being ignored as the tow trucks dragged away cars belonging to ordinary citizens parked less brazenly just meters away. You park on a red and ten minutes later you get towed. Govt. car parks there and goes untowed and unticketed for hours despite the reporter calling the cops to tow the violator…
Most people are so used to this kind of selective enforcement they don’t even notice it.
I taught adults at David’s English Center and my roommate does now. And sorry to contradict you, but they do give a damn. When you start discussing how useless the police are in Taiwan the students get rather heated up. I’ve had countless heated discussions on the topic. Maybe it just takes a little more effort on the peoples behalf before something gets done. Or we can do it your way and give up before we start… :s
Why is it my way?
A friend of mine rode on a bike to work last friday. He fell off it, with the only consolation being tht he merely got a mangled thumb and lost a fair amount of skin.
If you ride fast on bikes, it’s not a matter of if you will fall off or not, it’s a matter of when…
Here, the police is frigging useless. I have been in a small accident here in Yangmei, where the police refused to record anything, and claimed that the moron backing his car out from a parking spot and into my car was not to blame.
It took a friendly local screaming at the other guy before anything happened, and they were willing to pay me any money for the damage to my car.
Wouldn’t a little Singapore law be nice mixed in with our law? Many would disagree, but I for one would love to see a public flogging now and again.
I personally know some police who are my friends in TW, both of which are criminals and tell me about some of the stupid shit they pull. In fact, most of the cops here are so crooked, that half of the so called “bad guys” that we see driving in the black cars with black windows are police or related to police.
I was in a pub once where a cop that I knew, who was in uniform and on duty, came in and started to hang out and drink with the mafia guys. After maybe one hour and several drinks later, he got back on his cop scooter and could barely stand and drove off.
On another occasion, one of the cops that I know was just off duty but was carrying around his tazer, gun and other various toys in a bag into the pub. He knows me well enough, so he then pretends to shock me with his tazer, and then showing me how it works. A few drinks later, he takes out his gun and points it around the room and then laughs to say, “just kidding”.
Seriously, they are not my friends and I would love to see there behavior go punished. Can you imagine a drunk cop in Canada pulling out his gun and waving it around as a joke? If we can find any means possible, in a discreet manner to get them eg. taking pictures from afar and annoymously sending them to people higher up, count me in.