SUV good? Mordeth bad?

Alright, I’ve been thinking about all the admonitions I got here when I said I vandalized someone’s vehicle for parking in the middle of the road about 6" away from the red no stopping line.

For those of you who missed the original story…An expensive newer SUV pulled up to a red light went directly to the center of the square reserved for bikes to stop while waiting for the light. Roughly 6" away from the curb. Turned off his vehicle, got out, and went shopping. No 4-way signals or anything. I damaged his vehicle. And about 10 people swore at me on this forum.

Since then…I’ve come to know some of you better and even exchanged a few polite PMs. So, maybe now that you’ve had some time to cool down you can help me to see your point of view. Let’s use a slightly more extreme example and see if you still have the same views…and if not let’s see where you draw the line.

NEW EXAMPLE FOR DEBATE PURPOSES: One way road. One lane. You are behind another car driving down this road. He stops gets out goes into a house (it happens). You now have to back your car up for a block then find another way around.

So now you’ve backed your car up a block because of someone parking illegally showing no regard or respect for you… and you’d be ok with this? Well, of course you wouldn’t be ok with this…but you’d take no action? You’d just let this person spit in your face (figuratively speaking)?

Since the majority of you belive it’s wrong to punish this person in any way,shape or form. Then maybe it is me whose thoughts are misled, but can any of you in a non-insulting manner explain to me why you feel this way?

I know that my damaging his vehicle will probably not stop him from parking illegally again. But then again…if I were to park my car in front of someone’s garage blocking them in. Then later I came back to find my windows smashed (this also happens alot here). I think I would think twice before blocking in someone else’s garage again. And keep in mind the police here do nothing…so isn’t a bit of damage equal to getting a ticket from the police? And yes, I know I’m not the police, but in Taiwan the police aren’t the police…so I think that’s a mute point.

Anyway, I’d really like to have some intelligent non-insultive answers. Hopefully you can explain it in a way that curbs (no pun intended) some of my road rage.

Personally, I just lean on the horn until the owner comes out and moves his car, and then give them an earfull for being such a selfish prick. I don’t imagine for one moment however that they modify their behaviour because of this.

You do realize that many, many streets and alleys now have surveilance cameras on them eh? This cuts both ways. One, if you vandalize someone’s property they could easily pull the tapes and come after you this way. Two, if you can pull tapes you can prove they obstructed traffic and get the cops to prosecute them for it. Only a written complaint will put this in motion however. Not sure if there’s a camera? Never mind, keep a data-back camera in the car and get your own evidence. Yup, the traffic department will accept photo evidence from citizens if the pix have a day/date on them.

Otherwise, you could try the old spud up the tailpipe trick. Given the diagnostic skills of the average shop here, a person could run up a hell of a shop bill to find out why the engine won’t run for more than 5 seconds at a time. Plus, if you do get caught, it looks like such a harmless thing to do. :wink:

A friend has problems with people parking in front of his building’s garage entrance, blocking access for 50-odd cars at once. Now he’s taken to smearing the inside of their door handles with excrement, and thanks to the local dog owners there’s always a supply. Never sees the same car parked there twice…

I second the dog poo idea.

If anyone needs some warm squishy canine brownies, hit me up. :smiley:
I’ve got more than enough. Haha.

So far for me, a lean on the horn and a stern “HEY!” has got these guys to move their cars.

Mordeth you can always call the cops.

Anarchy sems to suit you fine. I hope that if somebody trashes your beloved 2 wheels you won’t be upset about it. You probably just inconvenienced somebody.

I’d love to be able to “punish” people for their annoying habits here, but I realize it just isn’t my place to do it and I’ll only come out looking bad in the exchange. There also is no way to rationalise or justify irrational, destructive and violent behaviour. Are you justified in your “punishing” drivers for a minor traffic offense with a criminal offense on your part? Really doubt it. I won’t say I’ve never lost my cool with the locals; I have (though never resorted to destruction of property).
Try to remember that locals have no concept of appropriate levels of violence in confrontations. A dispute over traffic which results in lost face can result in you getting stabbed with a screwdriver or clubbed with a tire iron. This kind of thing does happen. In the case you describe, I might beep my horn or pound my steering wheel a few times, but ultimately I’d back up and go around. Once I’m out of the area, my anger over the incident will dissipate or be replaced by some other example of horrible driving.

Exactly right. Why are you above the law? Why are rules regarding parking and road courtesy supposed to be applied to others, but you get a pass for vigilante justice? Gimme a break! :unamused:

It’s not about the law. It’s about common courtesy and respect. I’m not talking about the law here. I try to be respectful of others to the best of my ability. But when I’m disrespected, I disrespect back. Screw the law.

I’ll do the following…

First, curse heartily to myself…muttering things that would shock anyone that knows me. Second, lay on the horn.

I’ve never really had any desire to smash someones junk…I have too much respect for the machinery. The owner, on the other hand, might get an earfull.

You can only freak on this so much. You’ll never know for sure why they parked this way to begin with. 99% of the time, it’s out of sheer selfeshness, but what if you bust the mirror of the one person that actually had a legitimate reason to park that way to begin with? Maybe his 80 year old grandmother fell down and broke her hip, or had a fire in her kitchen…

[quote]It’s not about the law. It’s about common courtesy and respect. I’m not talking about the law here. I try to be respectful of others to the best of my ability. But when I’m disrespected, I disrespect back. Screw the law.
[/quote]

Can you truly say that you are respectful of others when you damage their personal property? :eh: I agree that some people here have terrible parking habits, but I am sure they are not doing it to purposely disrespect you. Saying “screw the law” is easy but I am curious what the penalty would have been if the police would have caught you destroying a Taiwanese persons property. :ponder: Nothing good can come from it.
Before your next motorcycle ride please remember to take a few deep breaths and say to yourself, “It will be okay. I am above this…”.

I understand totally where Mordeth’s point of view comes from, and have had the same thoughts as himself on more than one occasion. However I have to agree with the posts of dissent. If we each take the law into our own hands then there would be anarchy.

Just the other day I did exactly what Mordeth has been talking about. I regret my actions, and if I could go bak again I would not have done what I did. The repercussions are just not worth it.

The building in which I live has a rear lane access to the basement, and as such that laneway gets a good deal of traffic. Even though it is narrom enough for only one car, it is a two way street. The problem is that quite often people double-park illegally about half way along the 200 meter odd stretch of narrow laneway, at a small intersection. As the lane is narrow, if a car is coming in at the same time that a car is going out, then the car coming in has no choice but to reverse all the way out - which is made ten times harded when there is the added obstacle of a double parked vehicle to be navigated.

On this particular day I was running late, and wasn’t in a very good mood. Some idiot had double parked in the usual spot and three cars including my own spent about 10 minutes going back and forth trying to get past this car. I was the last of the three and as I went past I reached out to break off his mirror, but it just folded forward. As I drove off I heard a yell and looked back to see the drivers head sticking out of the car. The asshole had been sitting in his car the whole time watching us all reversing around his vehicle - which he could have driven out and driven back in again in less than a minute. The fact that he had sat back watching this made me even madder.

Anyway, when I got to the end of the street I was stopped by traffic. The guys car flies up behind me, he jumps out with a big stick of some sort and starts swinging and swearing. I will be totally honest in that I wasn’t concerned at all as I was ready to call the police to have him pay for the damage that he was going to do. Afterall, I was now blocking the lane and there was no way out for him. He hesitated however, and although he was swinging his stick around like crazy, he didn’t land a single blow on my car. I just watched him in the rearview mirror, and when the traffic had cleared, drove off.

My point is, although I got some satisfaction from grabbing his car, it was very little satisfaction indeed. Considering what could have happened, it didn’t seem worth the trouble, and some of these people are just so darn selfish, I am sure that it wouldn’t have made a lick of difference in his future parking decisions.

My solutions now are:

a. If the owner is present, I thank them in Chinese for being so considerate of others, and wish them the best next time they are in a hurry and someone parks them in the way that they parked me in. I have a smile on my face and wave a bit. They always seem confused, but I am pretty sure that they get the message. The best thing is that I feel better, and it is much safer than direct confrontation. I mean what are they going to claim as their justification for getting physical ‘But officer he thanked me, smiled, waved at me, so I clubbed him over the head with a bat.’

b. If the owner is not present I have some prewritten notes in Chinese that I have photocopied to look like originals on which I write:
‘Sorry for the damage to your car but I tried my best to get out without damaging it. Maybe next time if you park carefully others will be able to get out without hitting your car’. I then call for the tow trucks, which is something that I have started doing a lot lately. Often times the owner moves their car before the tow trucks arrive, but you should see them when they read the note. They must spend a good 5 to 10 minutes looking over their prized car for damage which doesn’t exist.

My advice - never touch another persons car no matter how justified you feel you may be. It is certain to get them riled up, and could be more trouble than it was worth.

I once was punched in the face 3 times by a giant construction worker back home because he thought my car was smoking too much and I was stationned ahead of his pick up at a red light.(had a blown head gasket and was trying to make it home. The car was smoking a lot)He simply opened my door, pulled me 1/2 way out of the car ripping my shirt in the process, then before I could even excuse my broken car BAM,BAM,BAM. I was 18 years old and half his size. My buddy next to me did not even attemp to help me the guy was so big. I can’t imagin I’d be here to write this had I intentionnaly broke his mirror and got caught.
Here They don’t drive pick ups so much. They drive more SUVs.
Be careful.

I don’t think this will be an issue here. Just get behind any diesel blue truck and you’d fit right in.

Not all SUV drivers are this nasty… :sunglasses:

That’s hilarious! :bravo: :notworthy: :laughing:

can anyone translate this into chinese?

i am hung over.

Yeah, Anyone wanna give us the Chinese for that?

I’ve had people swing ‘sticks’ at me a few times here. For the first few years in Taiwan if someone got out of their car with a bat or something I’d take off. Now when they get out of their car with a bat, I put my kickstand down and stand up and go see what they have to say.

My friend was attacked by a bus driver who got out of the bus and ran at him with a baseball bat. My friend had his backpack in his hands and just waited for him to get close to throw it in his face and then go to town. When the bus driver realized that he wasn’t scaring my friend. He then ran at my friends girlfriend who was off to the side. She was a little afraid so he continued to wave his stick and yell at her for a short time. Then got back on his bus.

I went to the police station and asked “If someone gets out of their car and approaches me with a weapon, can I strike them first?” The officer told me I couldn’t…so then I said “Oh, so if I came at you with a knife…you’d wait until after I stabbed you…and then shoot me?” to which he replied “Hmm, good point. Yeah, if someone came at you with a weapon you could hit them first.”

Kinda forgot what my point was…hmmm…but your stick waving story reminded me of these past situations.

I know in the UK, if anyone blocks your path illegally or otherwise obstructs you when you have a right of passage, then you can use all reasonable force to move the car (or whatever it is). If that means breaking the window and hot wiring the car to move it somewhere else or towing it out of the way with your car, then fine.

I asked a (very senior) police officer in Taiwan whom I know if this was the case in Taiwan and he said that by and large, it is also legal to move someone elses car if it is blocking your path or someone elses.

Unfortunately, “by and large” could mean all sorts of things in Taiwan and in court your reasons just might not cut any ice.

I think the law will side with who knows who on the inside than whether the law actually stands or not.

But would I be right in assuming that “blocking someone’s path” would apply when there’s no way around, rather than just being too lazy to go around? Or is it right across the board?

If the vehicle is blocking a doorway, hydrant, preventing other vehicles from getting around (by either making cars give way for one another or completely blocking a road), blocking a driveway or is parking in a place where a person [color=red]honestly believes[/color] it presents a danger to other road users because of its position on the road/footpath (or anywhere) then it can be moved by a person who [color=red]believes or has reason to believe[/color] that it is causing, or will cause an obstruction or danger to other road users.

Thats not exactly correct, but you get the gist.

Back home, if you notice a vehicle parked dangerously but fail to notify the police or do something about it yourself and later on an accident occurs, you could be held partly responsible for causing that accident (as it could have been prevented by you and your public duty to do something about it).

Its unlikely anyone would ever prove that you knew about it unless you broadcasted it but the law is there nontheless.