You really think this problem is worse in the US vs Taiwan? 
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Yes. Very much so.
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Iām actually more scared of driving in Canada than Taiwan. Terrifying lack of awareness from drivers that put their brains on autopilot. Nobody looks out for bicycles and motorcycles. Hit and run is very common now
There may be better drivers in the US but the few bad drivers there drive REALLY fast and irrationally. In Taiwan the speeds are lower (not because they want to, but because road conditions and traffic really does not allow for speed) so there are more time to react, and so as a result death is lower. But in the US people drive much faster.
Iāve driven in the USA, UK and Taiwan. Taiwanese driving is by far the worst, itās not even close. If I drive like the way Iām forced to drive here when I get home, Iād lose my license. You donāt get people routinely driving the wrong way down a one way street anywhere else, or 3/4 cars following me through a red light when I thought I was too late to go through, or the sudden slowing down as they want to window shop or sight see as they drive along.
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Yeah, accident statistics are slippery things. Itās easy to massage the numbers. However there is still a wide gulf between the US and Taiwan, and itās not in the direction youād expect.
My hunch is that, allowing for factors like dangerous vehicles, average miles-per-year, and standards of emergency care, ārealā accident and death rates are similar in all developed countries, because thatās the nature of cars and driving. There is a certain built-in death rate associated with them, which boils down to physics and the vagaries of the human brain.
To be clear, Iām not making excuses for Taiwan. There are usually some things you can do to make things better. However, as the low-hanging fruit is plucked, the returns become less and less important, and there comes a point (eg., automated speed cameras) where the aim is clearly to raise revenue, not to improve road safety.
Iāve done several rants in the past about the curious persistence of human-operated vehicles, despite the fact that they were obsolete at least 30 years ago. Itās high time we started building proper transport systems, and relegating cars to their original intended purpose, ie., entertainment.
Iād far rather drive in Canada than Taiwan, but I do agree that the awareness of bicycles is better in Taiwan.
True - but in terms of basic enforcement, I think thereās a lot of low-hanging fruit still to pick on the roads here! (Helmet laws and strapping up, not running red lights, stopping for pedestrians, etc.)
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I agree. Some posters above have identified some easy (and helpful) things the police can do.
Also worth pointing out that thereās a skills gap between the north and the south. Anywhere south of Taichung and youāll see scooter drivers weaving in and out, not wearing helmets, running red lights, stacking up three kids on the front, etc., whereas this is becoming rarer up north.
Whenever I go back to the UK, I really notice how fast and aggressive drivers are. I find it much more intimidating on British roads than Taiwanese ones. I guess people in the UK assume that the rules will always be followed and therefore thereās less need to be circumspect, whereas the Taiwanese habit of (say) creeping around corners is predicated on the fact that thereās always some other idiot who isnāt looking where heās going.
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Well, at least Taiwan has a functioning transit system, whereas in the us driving is mandatory. That means the us is bad for people with aspetgers because they are poorly suited to drive.
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Plus how expensive taxis are there. I had a short trip to and from work before I was able to drive and it was $30US each way.
Well you donāt have any alternatives there. For many places itās either drive there or take a taxi.
Does anyone know the deaths per 100,000 Km driven for Taiwan and USA. Thatās the real metric to compare. The other metric is in USA deaths are counted from the overwhelming cause here road deaths are only counted if the person dies at the scene. If the die in hospital they died from the injuries and are not counted in the road deaths.
I found the metrics before. And I think it was Taiwan drive 30 percent less but have 100% more road deaths.
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OK has anybody else had enough of ābut in the US blah blah blahāā¦
All I know is it is WAY safer and less stressful to be a pedestrian in the city in the US. Here we have to constantly be vigilant even when you have a green man to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing !
Now letās talk about Taiwan alright ā¦
Iāve provided the stats and they are not good, fatalities are going in the wrong direction .I suspect thst is due to increased number of vehicles on roads this year.
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I donāt know why Taiwanās roads are being compared to developed countries. Get a grip.
Yes driving here can be fun, no rules are fun! we get it. But if you havenāt seen multiple accidents or the aftermath here you are being very ignorant.
I cant recall ever seeing a road accident or the aftermath in the UK. In taiwan iāve seen more than i can count now, even scary stuff such as people laying on the floor unconscious, more than once.
Even without that all you need to do is to cross the road to learn how unsafe and batshit insane the roads are.
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In my opinion the majority of Taiwanās drivers still have a long way to go (pun absolutely intended) in regards of road safety and situational awareness (and in some cases, common sense).
Today Iāve been to Lugang. Here are some of my observations:
A small lane, full of pedestrians ranging from babys to elderly people. No one thinking that it would be a good idea to close it for motorised vehicles. So anything from your friendly neighborhood ama to big vans are weaving between the people and by doing so one can almost hit a toddler.
No one seemed to be aware of the meaning of the colours of the traffic lights, police officers standing around at the crossings were apparently afraid of bothering the local motorists.
And as stated in the posts above, Helmets, Seatbelts, Lights and Turnsignals are all things you need to pay extra if you want to use them.
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i think recent conversations on forumosa in regards to driving skill , education and healthcare deserve some attention . these are the trifecra of retarded culture . retarded in the literal sense , not the woke one . this article is a good one for me as i know the area extremely well, the people, culture, hospitals and police. I think this triangle of retardation can be looked at much like the 4 way recycle sign in taiwan. So a 4 way of idiocy. Going in circles whilst pointing inwards and outwards simultaneously. The taiwanese recyling logo is the most amazing intentional description of its creators culture.
Truck dude crosses to opposite lane and smokes a scooter. Bad driving at best, if we are just saving face. Alive while heroes pull teuck off her, dies later at hosptal. Shit hospital, really from experience those people shouldnt be considered doctors. I know drug dealers with better revival skills. And to finish off the triangle of illigitmate, police will ask him to pay the family a -whatever- to close the case so they have less paperwork and more tv time.
All of these situations could of, and should of, been prevented due to eduction. School fail. Parenting fail. When we realise this, we can fix this. And it isnt at all about taiwanese vs foreigner. Its about responsibility vs laziness. Sellfishness, face, greed and all those are secondary it seems, as laziness usually trumps them all. Shit happens, but not this often and not this easily. People ought to care. Best gamble is on the next generation. Teach well everyone, i dont want to be old and crippled with this shit unchanged, none of us do.
Ps, mini baseball bats in carsā¦evolved this way for a reason. How about a change?
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I hung out with this Spanish girl a few times before her accident - it brings it so much closer to home. She had so much to live for, was giving so much, and now >>>> nada.
Perhaps she was driving without perfect attention (sheād been in Taiwan less than a year), but she was driving in her lane, and the blue truck crossed the center line at speed.
End of everything.
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Distance - deaths is not a fair metric either. When I lived in USA I would drive 5 x the distance in the same time I do here for commute. Hours in traffic vs deaths would be fair.
My license test in California was a joke. literally 1 mile around a block and it was done. My home country in Europe is MUCH harder than Usa. Scooter test here was actually a test. not hard but you do have to know how to drive to pass.
I feel drivers in USA are just as bad but there is more space for them so there is less accidents. While traffic here is chaotic at times I feel it works actually pretty well. Iāve driven in at least 40 countries around the world. If I had to choose Germany works best since everybody follows the rules. Taiwan reminds me of southern parts of Italy in many ways with making things work with the space that is available.
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The difference in the US is people drive much faster. So in case of accidents, there are less time to react and more energy for damage.
Road in the US was terrible compared to Taiwan. California was pretty bad but Texas was terrible. Those roads havenāt been surfaced in decades. This makes it dangerous to bike on because the edge are often full of potholes and tree roots. Drivers in Texas will not yield for cyclists.
US driving tests are a joke. In the UK, on average, you need 12+ 1 hour lessons and itās common to fail the practical test several times. Itās just so much easier to drive in the US. If you can drive āstickā in the UK well, youāre probably amongst the most competent of drivers in the world.
As for Taiwanā¦just yesterday (in Kaohsiung), I saw a guy in his 60s with a 4 year old boy hanging off the back seat of the scooter, lob-sided, looking like he was going to fall off, with no helmet. I lost my **** and drove after them shouting at the guy. he just blanked me. I donāt care if an adult gets on a scooter with no helmet, but to do that to a todler is disgusting. Itās common in kaohsiung. EVERY red light has people turn right (often without looking at the traffic coming from the left, and 10% of red lights have people going ahead straight.).
Mostly Iām angry at the police. For a country that supposedly thinks of itself as first world they are a shower of ****. A single police officer in Kaohsiung could raise 100k a day in fines if they wanted.
EDIT - as for actual driving in the UK, as another posted pointed out, itās highly aggressive and unforgiving compared to Taiwan. Speeding is far more common there
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