Is anyone gotten a ticket or what’s the potential to get a ticket by running a red light on a bicycle?
Hmm … looks there was a brief effort to enforce laws back in 2007?
Forumosa thread here; Taipei Times article here. (Miss you @500CBFan !)
I am a cycling rarity on the road between Danshui and Sanzhi: I do often stop for lights. Not always. Depends on the light and what else is going on.
Ha ha, from the 2007 article: “Department statistics show that 679 cyclists ran red lights last month”. I think I saw 200+ on Sunday!
@ranlee or others who are in cycling circles may be able to chip in on if these tickets ever happen.
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It’s something like 300-600NT is what I hear from fellow cyclists and reported recently by this article:
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Any idea if it actually happens all that often? I don’t think I’ve spoken to anyone who’s gotten a ticket but, well, that’s an almost depressingly small sample size.
I’ve had one before. Kinda my own fault. There used to be a route that I took to work in the morning that ran past a set of lights that had a police officer. It was one of those sets of lights at a T junction, where you can basically go straight on a red without any issues as long as you’re careful about it. Well, I ran that red once and the police officer blew his whistle at me, I just kept riding. The next day I did the same thing, but the same police officer was waiting for me. Not sure if he moved just to catch me, but there you go. I can’t remember how much it was, but after that, I changed my route to work so I avoided that junction.
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Interesting, thanks - so it does happen. Those are the kinds of lights I often run as well, assuming there’s not much traffic.
If the police ever have a “cyclist ticket” quota, they could pick any number of the lights between Danshui and Zhishan and hand out plenty of tickets on a sunny weekend morning. There are so many often-pointless lights along that stretch.
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A big reason cyclists run red lights is because bicycles don’t have a license plate, so there’s no fear of getting caught on CCTV and receiving a ticket in the mail.
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I’m guessing there’s also plausible deniability of “No, I don’t have any ID with me.”
And there are sometimes good, albeit selfish, reasons for running the lights. Losing all the momentum, unclipping shoes, stopping, restarting (occasional “Oh shit I forgot to change the gears” moments), clipping in shoes again, regaining momentum, only to go through the same thing a minute later for another light where there’s no one coming the other way … ugh. Way more hassle than on a scooter. And maybe it’s just an excuse, but I prefer to avoid setting off from a light in a crowd with all the other scooters and cars that were stopped: avoiding that rush can be safer.
My usual tactic is to slow down well before I reach the red, try to avoid stopping, and hope that it changes by the time I get there. One reason I try to avoid the main coast road is all the lights.
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That will land you the following response from the cop:
“No problem. Come with me to the station and we’ll get your identity sorted so I can issue you the fine.”
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I fucking hate bicyclists who run red lights and behave like the rules don’t apply to them.
I’ve seen so many near misses where the dumbass bicyclists would have died had they gotten hit.
Many of these asshats also play dress up like they’re Tour de France riders with all the copied uniforms, etc. Really pisses me off to see this typical Taiwanese behavior and even more so when it’s a frickin’ foreigner who knows better, but won’t be arsed to follow the law or standards of conduct as it pertains to road laws and/or safety.
Me too, but they’re not as bad as drivers and scooter riders who run red lights. Even worse: Running red lights without even slowing down or checking for traffic.
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These pricks think they’re so outdoor and progressive but a lot are just materialistic wank stains
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I thought that was Tesla drivers
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Is it ok if I don’t dress like an asshat?
I do all this, but without the asshat outfit.
Obey the rules of the road at all times. No running red lights for any reason. Dress as you like, but if you aren’t actually on a Tour team, then no playing dress up! I once saw an asshat dressed in the full US Postal Service Tour de France team uniform to include fancy racing helmet. He looked ridiculous. Just like this actual picture from the Tour.
This type of behavior is almost as egregious as those wannabes who put on official US Navy SEAL gear or USMC Force Recon gear to “look cool”.
That helmet is Awesome !!!
What’s this supposed to be? USPS Postal Police gear? 
If you mean there’s no way there’s a USPS cycling team, actually, there was. With a reputation that, shall we say, seesawed.
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I’d be less embarrassed to dress up in USPS Postal Police cosplay.