Easy to see how. After he goes to the left he changes to the right hits the brake and loses the front end on a wet gravel patch.
Simply not paying attention to the road.
He didn’t ‘read’ the road …
But the road read him. 
It’s happened to me before. Also in the rain.
Here’s how I look at it.
Imagine you are at a big ski resort popular with families. It’s a Saturday afternoon near closing time. Let’s say you’ve finished up your day and now you’re headed back to lodge. So you’ve made your way down the mountain and are now on a green near the bottom of the mountain where there are kids, groups, classes and newbies galore. Now imagine you get to a place where trails cross, there is a nearby lift, and people are landing off hits in the trees right into the main run. That’s what riding in an urban environment is like. Treating it like this has so far kept me out of trouble (touch wood).
I ride mostly in Taipei City, but have noticed that most of the crazy shenigans happen outside the city. The further out, the wackier it gets, it seems. To be perfectly honest, riding in Taipei has been absolutely tame to me compared to riding motorcycles in NYC or even California. The main reason is that people are aware of bikes around them.
First/second: she’s an idiot. She may not have even noticed the guy.
Third: to avoid losing face.
Fourth: to preserve the state of harmony.
All I’ve been reading are mostly people applying their UK, US and etc. driving etiquettes to driving condition here in Taiwan. It’s simple really, don’t drive here if you think the driving conditions are too dangerous or don’t live here. We are all guest in this country and it is us who have to adapt to their culture. Public transportations here are outstanding and are easy to get around.
By the way, stop falsifying how much better drivers are in the UK and the US. I’ve driven in both countries and there are just as many dangerous drivers or more. Just google the annual traffic related death tolls for both those countries and compare that to Taiwan. Oh yeah…the majority of those involved in major car accident are “white” and probably goes by the name “Billy Bob.”
You’re right there. At least if you live in the big smoke, public transport is faster and cheaper than driving, by a long chalk. I think the reason people get riled though is that it’s not “culture” at all. It’s just simple lack of training. And if it is culture, then it’s a thoroughly dysfunctional one and needs to change.
Uh…bollocks. I know there is a certain type of foreigner here who thinks it’s OK to drink-drive and behave like a complete fuckwit on the roads “because Taiwanese people do it”. The majority of those involved in car accidents are, obviously, Taiwanese, and probably go by the name of A-Fu.
As for traffic stats, it’s not as simple as looking at death rates. Look at the stats I posted earlier. Death by automobile is actually very unusual. Most accidents (~99%) result in injury, not death - but does that mean it’s OK to cause accidents?
No, most of us are not guests but paying customers. And no one has to get used to dangerous ignorant and let’s be clear illegal driving practices. Or are you under the impression that going the wrong way down a one-way street, passing on the shoulder on the freeway, driving over the speed limit, driving without a genuine license, passing on the outside lane on a mountain road when the line is a double yellow, reckless driving that endangers those around you, and so on, and so on, are all legal?
Driving conditions here are appalling and probably the worst thing about living here besides the scumminess of the urban environment and garbage. I see no reason to gloss over this fact or make the slightest apologies for it. I’ve been watching public service announcements trying to get people to be better drivers since I arrived 15 years ago. It seems the government agrees with me that things need to improve and not with you that it’s just community standards. 
Sadly I have seen most of those things from a large percentage of foreigners who drive or ride in Taiwan. Instead of complaining the foreign driving community should lead by example and stop making excuses like ‘I ride like that for safety because everyone else does it’ or ‘I don’t need a license because the test here is a joke’.
The number of foreigners I have seen getting tanked up before riding or driving home is an embarrassment and if we are making this a ‘US/UK is more civilized than Taiwan’ thing then we all need to take a very deep look at our own driving habits.
Get a license. Understand the local road laws. Wear a proper helmet. Don’t bust through red lights and one way streets. And for fuck’s sake stop driving drunk. Until then as a community we are no more fit to teach the general populace how to drive than a KTV drunkard or Savrin twat.
[quote=“llary”]The number of foreigners I have seen getting tanked up before riding or driving home is an embarrassment and if we are making this a ‘US/UK is more civilized than Taiwan’ thing then we all need to take a very deep look at our own driving habits.
Get a license. Understand the local road laws. Wear a proper helmet. Don’t bust through red lights and one way streets. And for fuck’s sake stop driving drunk. Until then as a community we are no more fit to teach the general populace how to drive than a KTV drunkard or Savrin twat.[/quote]
I am not part of any foreign community that I know of. I do know that I drive properly, as I would anywhere, and despise anyone, foreign or local, who does otherwise.