When I first started driving I thought the Taiwanese must be the most patient people in the world. They would have to be… with the way they drive! I told my self that I would not let my anger get the best of me while I was driving in Taiwan. I just recently bought a new car, and have found that driving her is no different than driving in Toronto. I just recently found this includes road rage as well.
Early Saturday night I was waiting at a large intersection in the middle of the city waiting for a break in traffic, so I could turn right. There was a large bus behind me. He blared his horn several times, but what could I do? I guess he was upset that I wasn’t forcing my way into traffic like most drivers. After another long honk from the bus driver… up went my middle finger.
I finally got a chance to turn right and drove over the overpass and got into the left turning lane at the next light. The bus driver drove up right next to my car and yelled something in Taiwanese. At that moment he got out of his bus and started to walk around the car. Obviously he was pissed about the finger thing and I wasn’t going to wait around to find out what he had to say. As I was driving off he ran up and hit my car…
The End.
I understand that I shouldn’t have given him the finger, but come on!!! I couldn’t believe that a bus driver got out of his bus! What about being professional? What about the people on the bus? I would probably never give the finger to a taxi driver or one of those low rider - dark tinted cars, but a bus driver??? I still can’t believe it.
P.S. Don’t give me any crap about his timetable… If he had time to stop and yell at me, he was not in that much of a rush!
I gave the finger to someone once and my Taiwanese wife told me never to do it again. Apparently it’s just about the worst thing you can do here. People have been killed over it according to her.
[quote=“Dangermouse”]I would have got out of my car, leant against it, folded my arms and stared at the bus driver. I would have just let him drive around my car.
Nothing else. No bad temper. Just stand and stare.[/quote]
DM :bravo: :bravo: Have done this a couple of times here, quietens them down real quick, especially being a foreignor as well.
Hmmm… so a secret agent mouse, who can stand on his hind legs and hold one finger in the air (see avatar)… not to mention talking and using the interweb is not special??
[quote=“Dangermouse”]I would have got out of my car, leant against it, folded my arms and stared at the bus driver. I would have just let him drive around my car.
Nothing else. No bad temper. Just stand and stare.[/quote]
Need to be careful with that one, though. I saw exactly the same thing happen once – the guy got out of his shiny black car and just stared at the bus driver. The bus driver stared back at him, engaged first gear, and rammed the guy’s car hard, busting off the bumper, crumpling the rear end and shattering the rear window. I happened to be standing on the bus at the time, which was packed with commuters. The driver got some nasty comments from the pasengers, but nothing very drastic, considering.
[quote=“sandman”][quote=“Dangermouse”]I would have got out of my car, leant against it, folded my arms and stared at the bus driver. I would have just let him drive around my car.
Nothing else. No bad temper. Just stand and stare.[/quote]
Need to be careful with that one, though. I saw exactly the same thing happen once – the guy got out of his shiny black car and just stared at the bus driver. The bus driver stared back at him, engaged first gear, and rammed the guy’s car hard, busting off the bumper, crumpling the rear end and shattering the rear window. I happened to be standing on the bus at the time, which was packed with commuters. The driver got some nasty comments from the pasengers, but nothing very drastic, considering.[/quote]
Hmmm, but if it was a foreigner with a camera? Surely, a picture of him ramming the car would be something, you could get the cops here interested in - especially when you have 40 passengers watching.
[quote=“Mr He”][quote=“sandman”][quote=“Dangermouse”]I would have got out of my car, leant against it, folded my arms and stared at the bus driver. I would have just let him drive around my car.
Nothing else. No bad temper. Just stand and stare.[/quote]
Need to be careful with that one, though. I saw exactly the same thing happen once – the guy got out of his shiny black car and just stared at the bus driver. The bus driver stared back at him, engaged first gear, and rammed the guy’s car hard, busting off the bumper, crumpling the rear end and shattering the rear window. I happened to be standing on the bus at the time, which was packed with commuters. The driver got some nasty comments from the pasengers, but nothing very drastic, considering.[/quote]
Hmmm, but if it was a foreigner with a camera? Surely, a picture of him ramming the car would be something, you could get the cops here interested in - especially when you have 40 passengers watching.[/quote]
There were a lot more than 40 witnesses – it was at the Heping/Tunhua intersection at about 6pm on a weekday, but it was one of those filthy old blue Muzha buses, to which the rules didn’t apply. Maybe the cops got him at the terminus afterward, but the incident didn’t add more than 5 minutes to my journey time.
I’ve also flipped the bird a few times only to realise that it makes situations much worse. It seems that no matter how wrong and clueless they are about their driving, everyone is supposed to just oblige and suck it in, no matter how angry we get…Now, I just go for the staredown and depending on who it is, I blow a few kisses their way…they just don’t know what to do with that…!!!
Oh, it was years ago. I don’t know if the bus company in question is even still running – it was notorious for its crapped-out vehicles and surly ex-con drivers.
You could just do as I used to. Get out of your vehicle and meet him on nuetral territory. Then beat the crap out of him! Then calmly get back in your vehicle and drive away.
My new way, the NEW me. Get out and show that you are twice their size and invite the fight. :fume: They usually back off very quickly and swear at you under their breath. They cannot fight here so if you show any sort of challenge they back off. It is all a head game here.
Another I use now is just laugh at them. I get the same reaction as skylark and the kisses. Have fun with them and they are lost.
Advice though, if you do fight then make it quick and get out of there. Other Chinese will jump in and attack you with any weapon they have if it goes on for any length of time. I’ve had 8 on me at one time. That was fun.
I’ve also quit flippin’ the finger. It’s just not worth it. I had a young guy almost ram into me one day when he was pulling over to the shoulder right on the corner of a busy intersection (they love doing that here), and he basically almost wiped me right off the road, had it not been for my extremely well tuned defensive driving. He barely glanced at me.
So I flip him the finger as I’m driving away and he follows me, then I do a U-turn, which I was planning anyway, then I do another U-turn to get away from this freak! Finally I lost him as I was on a scooter and he just couldn’t keep up. Maybe I should have stood my ground but it completely blew me away how determined this guy was.
I figured the best thing to do was get out of there. What dumb ass. Even though he clearly was in the wrong, he still didn’t figure he’d done the slightest thing wrong.
