I certainly do mind when they get in my way. Buying betel nuts is certainly not a good enough reason to block the only way in and out of Danshui and cause massive traffic jams.
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My wife gets angry if I stop more than 10 meters away from a shop she wants to go to, because there was no room to stop without blocking the road. She has to walk all the way to the shop! by herself! 
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THE HORROR!
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I have lived in several countries and there always seems to be a reoccurring theme. Foreigners move to a new country and think it’s their responsibility to change things or impose their will or views. Wait I just described history.
If a violation is serious enough to cause harm to someone or their life then by all means report it. But, a great majority of these seem petty and really a waste of time.
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what would you consider petty? i see people parked on pedestrian crossings or creating blind spots that could lead to accidents daily. these are the things that taiwanese wouldn’t bother reporting or even think of as dangerous, if somebody is ran over its just ‘an accident’ in their opinion.
i find it offensive that someone would try to wrap up dangerous, selfish driving and parking habits as some kind of sacred taiwanese culture that foreigners should leave well alone. actually its just basic common sense and respect for others.
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.[quote=“tempogain, post:10, topic:166809, full:true”]
Being prosecuted for fraud and impersonating a legitimate government authority would be less amusing though.
[/quote]
Dunno, I’d find it pretty funny.
Re this Socially Responsible Stazi /Virtuous Vigilante thing, there’s an overhead railway near the campus here which people park under, and since my car leaks, I’d been parking there too. Plenty of room, since its out in the sticks. No inconvenience to anyone, though the space is marked for scooters.
Then I got three hefty fines (with photo evidence) in the post and had to stop it, though other cars were still parking there.
Car got completely soaked while I was away over the summer, leading to electrical problems and frogs living in my water-filled sills
Local best guess is I was specifically targeted by one of my students.
I’d think that’s a potential downside to this kind of vigilante enforcement. Not necessarily even-handed/disinterested/couldn’t care less justice, which one might hope for from the cops.
Why not get your car fixed?
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Maybe it’s a convertible with no roof to attach
Why not mind your own business?
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This may help explain your attitude toward “vigilante enforcement.”
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This attitude may have also lead to making enemies with students who report his car… fascinating.
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Yeh, I thought there was a certain symmetry to the sequence
Would imagine it would inconvenience the scooter riders who wished to park their scooters out of the rain in their designated parking spaces.
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Dr Milkers comment made sense. Yours, not so much…
Your imagination is no match for the facts. Like I said, loads of space. . Plenty of room for both, and in fact now its been re-zoned to allow car parking.
the ‘doesn’t bother anyone else so it should be ok’ rule is fine with me but in this country the definition is quite broad. such as parking on crossings that may get other run over and burning your trash on your roof which doesn’t bother anyone else by sending toxic fumes into others homes.
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Rules here seems to be more of a “trouble for society/neighborhood/community” thing.
Meaning while you can go around reporting every instance of parking, moving, or even criminal violations, doing so is likely going to get you branded as a “snitch” and you will not be well liked here by anyone, particularly the police (like all law enforcement agencies they don’t like frivolous complaints too)
If it’s really a bother or a harm for the community they will get multiple complaints from different people, then they will act swiftly to deal with it.
Don’t go around reporting people or else you may find people reporting you over little violations of various laws and regulations. That won’t end well for you and you could end up deported over little stuff like playing a guitar anywhere outside.
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The examples i used were not frivolous. And the reason taiwanese would think they were is because they are getting reported for them.
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You seem to miss the reason why there are traffic laws in the first place. In 99% of the cases driving around like a lunatic isn’t going to harm anyone but in 1% of the cases innocent people could get killed or severely injured. So instead of asking police to do their job to actually enforce the laws as they are written, you’re asking individuals to point out the 1% of serious cases and ask the police to selectively enforce those?
There’s a red line in front of our house. Most of the time if a car wants to park there it is harmless. But for about a combined 10 minutes each week, my grandmother (who is 97 and uses a wheelchair) needs to get in and out of the building. A car being parked there means we have to wait 30 minutes for a tow truck to arrive just to get in and out, not to mention what would happen during a real emergency in which she would need to evacuate. To put the neighborhood on notice, and given that we’ve found ourselves waiting in the hot sun multiple times waiting for a tow truck to arrive or the driver to be contacted, I report any car parked there whether or not my grandma needs to get in or out at that moment. If I were being unreasonable, those affected could call the city government to have the line repainted white or yellow, not play zoning cop and decide it doesn’t matter.
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