Actually they are getting much stricter this year. Wenxin Rd where they are building the MRT just got it’s sidewalk widened and repaired and a nice new bike lane. Along with big bright no parking on sidewalk signs .
I actually started running to work now because the cops towed all the scooters on that road for a few days and people got the message, it’s clear now. Before it was essentially impossible to walk that road, broken sidewalk, stores and residents junk and plants blocking the path and scooters everywhere.
I wouldn’t care if people parked off to the side but they would leave them all over the sidewalk
is there something similar for people who get too close or don’t stop when pedestrians are crossing the road? i saw a guy earlier not stop when he should have while on his damn phone.
I was really surprised when I came back and saw that they re-did Wenxin Rd. Like a night and day difference, no longer have to weave in and out of store fronts and the side walks or jump in the road when everything else was blocked.
Now it’s a nice and flat sidewalk where you can walk a more than a block without being blocked by cars/scooters. Also noticed that the bus stops got a little bus stop pavilion (not sure if that’s the right word for it) with 2 seats which are a nice addition.
You can video any traffic offense and submit it to the traffic police reporting site for that area, they’ll get back to you after a time and let you know if a fine was issued or not.
Unfortunately the mobile app, which was the easiest way to report violations, now rejects non citizen ID numbers. I’ve tried to get the NIA director to address the issue to no avail. If you’ve found it useful in the past I encourage you to file a complaint: https://www.immigration.gov.tw/sp.asp?xdurl=bossmail/mailf.htm&ctNode=29984
There is an Android version, not sure if it suffers the same issue or not. You can use their website, Taipei , New Taipei City use translate in Chrome as necessary, the websites have a check box to accept ARC numbers. Photo’s and videos need to be correctly date and time stamped.
Well, it looks like the government decided to issue regulations prohibiting foreigners from reporting traffic violations. As part of an effort purportedly to avoid malicious or frivolous reporting, the regulations effective January 1, 2019 are aimed at requiring the reporting party to identify themselves. But the bureaucrats who drafted the regulations decided in all their wisdom that in order to self identity, a National ID card would be required: no ARC allowed.
That’s right - only in Taiwan is citizenship a prerequisite for reporting traffic violations!!
This said, I’ve called the police at 110 plenty of times this year and not once have they asked for my name or ID number. However, it is now impossible for a foreigner to report violations through the police department website or apps as the system started to reject ARC numbers. So I guess we can still report parking violations by calling 110, provided the police show up before people move their car, but it is impossible to report moving violations.
Yes, this ridiculousness really needs to be brought to the attention to sensible minds. The policy of the current administration is to make life easier for foreigners living in Taiwan, but it doesn’t look like the feet know what the hands are doing. I was going to send a letter to MOTC (which issued these regulations) with cc to NDC, NPA, NIA and the conveners of the legislative transportation committee but haven’t gotten to it.
All they have to do is delete the words “國民身分證” from the regulation as “統一證號” already refers to personal identity numbers issued by the government, whether those are ID numbers or ARC/TARC numbers, which all are verifiable using a check sum formula.
I used to report cases that were really blatent - the car that drove through a crowd of people to park on the sidewalk, etc. In nearly every situation a traffic cop was nearby.
Generally, the reports were accepted (i.e. ~85% of reports).
Now I understand why locals in my building and around my area look at me funny when someone gets a ticket or fined with a violation. They think the Foreigner reported them.
If the locals don’t mind and the police don’t care why do all the foreigners feel they need to be the traffic police in Taipei?
Maybe this is why foreigners can’t report violations online. The people making the rules might realize that most foreigners don’t give a shit about embarrassing someone or calling people out when they are being pricks. Unlike most Taiwanese who just smile and don’t care. Or at least pretend not to care because you don’t want to rock the boat.
