I read this a while back and thought it was quite admirable.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]I’ve forced the owners of perhaps a hundred vehicles to fix them so they stop spewing billowing clouds of toxic smoke, and that’s reward enough. I carry a pen and notepad in my shirt pocket whenever I ride, and routinely jot the license plate, vehicle type, location and time down, and I know that a month from now, that vehicle’s not going to be polluting the air I breathe.
Oh, and the EPA has sent me a number of small gifts in return for my steady efforts (actually, Dragonbabe helps a lot with this too – it’s a team effort). Nothing big, but useful shopping bags, small notebooks, and the like. I think Dragonbabe once got a small cash certificate for use at 7-11 or something too.[/quote]
Dragonbones, I feel, should be elevated to hero status. I see smoky scooters everyday - I was thinking that, in a year, it would be possible for one person to report hundreds of vehicles.
So I want to start reporting smoky vehicles too. But how? Does anyone know the link to download the form?
Good idea. I hope to join this effort. But, driving a scooter and fumbling to take pics is not something the government should be encouraging. I think I will use it only at stop lights.
EDIT: Example is at polcar.epa.gov.tw/public/news54.asp
Nice to improve the environment and also get a reward but be careful.
You don’t have to take a pic; just jot down the plate, vehicle type (e.g. passenger car, motorcycle, freight truck etc.) and color (optional), location and time. If you don’t take a pic that has a time and date stamp in the image and that clearly proves the location of the violation, clear smoke visible and plate number visible, you’re not eligible for the cash prizes but you are still helping out.
what about extremely heart beat increasing loud motorcycles? (not just really loud but really really ‘hey I don’t need a pipe cause I’m the king’ kind of loud). Some guys in the neighborhood ride this kind of bikes around our house at midnight and wake my boy.
Yes!! I have been doing it for quite a long time because I hate air pollution esp. from personal carelessness and ignorance! Let’s all make effort to stop it! : )
The other air pollution from cars is parking for a long time (maybe waiting to pick up someone) with the engine running. It really annoys me! But, I don’t know how to report it. It seems that people here are not fully aware that it will cause air pollution badly as well.
To touduke, I think you can call 1999 to ask the city government to take in charge of this. Their service includes pollution of both noise and air. They will have the policeman check the area right away. (but you have to call sooner. it happened to me so often that when the policeman came, the noise maker had already gone.) I am not sure if simply reporting the plate will help. For your info.
I’ve been reporting smoky scooters since last December after I’d read a related thread here (thanks DB, btw). To date I’ve reported nearly 130 vehicels (all scooters except for one blue truck) and memorizing number plates has become a daily habit for me since I commute on foot every day. Just like DB, I never take any photos, just memorize number plates in my head and report them online at the next opportunity. I understand you’re not entitled to any money rewards if you don’t provide a photo or video as evidence, but the satisfaction of doing something constructive for a better environment is enough for me.
Not every reporting yields immediate results though. In fact, a large number of your reports may not produce any change because the EPA seems to filter the massive amounts of reports they get (several hundred per day) by criteria such as “the scooter already underwent emission testing within the past year and passed”, etc. Thus, many reports are dismissed early on. That can be frustrating, but just keep reporting the same number plates every time you catch them. I’ve noticed a big improvement where I live compared to several months ago and at least in two cases I can be quite certain that this was due to my doing (since I’m so used to looking at and memorizing number plates, I can often also tell which ones I’ve already reported, so you get immediate feedback).
I really wish more people would help with the reporting and often I encourage friends and colleagues to do the same. So everybody on forumosa, pls join the fun.
Thanks for your post naiane. Talking with a neighbor about the boys in the neighborhood and their extremely noisy motorbikes, his eyes became all fire and he said “if I’d have gun I’d shoot 'em”. But then he does not want to report them, the good old fashioned Taiwanese he is, but gave me lots of “jia yous” and applauded my intention to do so.
I see smoky scooters everyday - I was thinking that, in a year, it would be possible for one person to report hundreds of vehicles.
