Traffic Cops

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

There has been lots written about the various participants of traffic in the big cities of Taiwan, taxi drivers, scooters and so on, but I haven’t seen any mention of traffic cops. Maybe it’s cause I haven’t scanned through the entire “most whacked things…” thread, but here I go anyway:

How about these poor, airport-issue-lightstick-waving SOB’s, these untouchables of the Taiwanese law enforcement caste system, these living monuments of redundancy, these testaments to cheap labor? Does it strike anyone as weird: cops who direct traffic at intersections where the lights are working ?? There would be a nice oxymoron, if only I could condense it into two words …

I’ve seen cops deployed at busy intersections in other parts of the world, but only in times of unusual congestion (due to strikes, flooding, etc.), or to replace traffic lights temporarily out of service. But these guys are there every day during morning and evening rush hour. Major intersections usually get at least two guys, while many lesser intersections get one. In Taipei alone, this has got to add up to over a thousand uniformed officers, doing what exactly?

Their main duty - excuse my naiveness - seems to be to tell us when the lights turn red and when they turn green. Since both of these events are signalled with the same rapid whistling, one must refer to the light for clarification. Once traffic is moving, their secondary task is to rush the motorists along - as if motorists here needed rushing - with agitated hand gesturing and more whistling.

At the busier intersections with 2 or more cops, the 7-11 “huan ying guang lin” mentality prevails. That is, as soon one cop whistles, the others quickly reinforce him in concert. Perhaps there is a seniority system that determines who gets to whistle first, louder and longer.

Could the reason for traffic cops be just a visible presence of authority, to discourage a complete disregard for traffic laws and anarchy on the roads? These guys are clearly not there to enforce the law, they’re too busy (and in the wrong place) to actually pull people over. I see no purpose in their existence, except to make the driving in Taiwan an even less humane and more sheep-like experience.

I now toss out the hypothetical question – what would happen if, starting tomorrow, the thousands of traffic-directing cops in Tiawan got desk jobs?

2

Yes. Witness the instant and total gridlock at the Chunghsiao/Keelung intersection last Friday evening due to the absence of traffic direction.
Most of those guys aren’t even cops – the orange shirt guys are taxi driver volunteers.

3

That might have also been due to the grand opening of the 101 shopping area that night.
The traffic around that entire area was absolutely horrid (MUCH worse than I’ve ever seen it). Can’t wait until they have a big exhibition at the WTC on a weekend. Maybe its time to move…

4

[quote=“mangalica”]There has been lots written about the various participants of traffic in the big cities of Taiwan, taxi drivers, scooters and so on, but I haven’t seen any mention of traffic cops. Maybe it’s cause I haven’t scanned through the entire “most whacked things…” thread, but here I go anyway:

How about these poor, airport-issue-lightstick-waving SOB’s, these untouchables of the Taiwanese law enforcement caste system, these living monuments of redundancy, these testaments to cheap labor? Does it strike anyone as weird: cops who direct traffic at intersections where the lights are working ?? There would be a nice oxymoron, if only I could condense it into two words …

I’ve seen cops deployed at busy intersections in other parts of the world, but only in times of unusual congestion (due to strikes, flooding, etc.), or to replace traffic lights temporarily out of service. But these guys are there every day during morning and evening rush hour. Major intersections usually get at least two guys, while many lesser intersections get one. In Taipei alone, this has got to add up to over a thousand uniformed officers, doing what exactly?

Their main duty - excuse my naiveness - seems to be to tell us when the lights turn red and when they turn green. Since both of these events are signalled with the same rapid whistling, one must refer to the light for clarification. Once traffic is moving, their secondary task is to rush the motorists along - as if motorists here needed rushing - with agitated hand gesturing and more whistling.

At the busier intersections with 2 or more cops, the 7-11 “huan ying guang lin” mentality prevails. That is, as soon one cop whistles, the others quickly reinforce him in concert. Perhaps there is a seniority system that determines who gets to whistle first, louder and longer.

Could the reason for traffic cops be just a visible presence of authority, to discourage a complete disregard for traffic laws and anarchy on the roads? These guys are clearly not there to enforce the law, they’re too busy (and in the wrong place) to actually pull people over. I see no purpose in their existence, except to make the driving in Taiwan an even less humane and more sheep-like experience.

I now toss out the hypothetical question – what would happen if, starting tomorrow, the thousands of traffic-directing cops in Tiawan got desk jobs?[/quote]

as far as I know and have heard they are paid about 300 NTD per hour for doing this

If there was nobody at the intersection… everyone would be flooring it at the red light change and would drag more cars after it… hence nobody would stop at the red lights and there would be cars passing through all entrances and exits of the intersection … the red lights would be ineffective and there would be crashes… the cops would be called to all these crashes as the drivers would be blaming each other so the insurance could be sorted out… so there would be no cops available at the intersections and their would be grid locked… everyday the traffic would be at a standstill… everyone would blame the Mayor and cops… and would be incapable of realizing it is themselves in their 2.3 L cars that are the real cause… people would be late for work … productivity would go down even lower than what it is a lot of the time… The DPP would blame the KMT and PFP and say it is some presidential stunt… the KMT and PFP would counter claim this… with James Soong getting down on his knees apologizing to every motorists on the road each morning for the woes and their problems… China would invade as everybody would be glued to their TVs looking at the traffic jam… dogs and cats would make love on the street…

and all this just because nobody was at the intersection

5

TNT, why did you copy the entire long post? Weird.

A Chinese friend just e-mailed me some new traffic fines and the one that caught my eye was the NT$5,400 for turning right on red. That seems excessive with or without Mayor Ma’s agreement a couple of months ago to tell cops to ease off on that very offense.

6

I am curious how they are supposed to ease off in that

One day they only give fines to people turning right who have odd number plates and even the next day, next day they do yellow cars, and then the following day the go for Toyotas

I think this is some crap Ma said to try and appease the complaints on these fines.
The government thinks these fines are the best thing since sliced bread. This way Ma can go to the beauty parlor more and can get more posing lessons with all the money Taipei City Government is making. Its strange they do not try and justify this by saying it costs this much to hire the guys to stand at the intersections

Strange here though if I broke the speed limit by 1 mph or by 186,000 mps, the fine would be the same

7

No, I just dumped the e-mail, but it did say that you got hit for NT$100 for each km over the speed limit (in addition to the fine).

But if you go over the speed limit up to the speed of light, you would theoretically make time go backward and eventually come to a point where you had not yet broken the speed limit and could slow down. :wink:

8

If you merely go a large fraction of the speed of light, you can blueshift the red lights to green, thereby avoiding both the right-turn-on-red and running-a-red-light fines. Contact your local physicist to find out the ideal speed.

9

Without those traffic cops, Traffic would be a much greater nightmare than it already is. The provide some semblence or authority and order. I think it was A-bian that first put them on the street when he was mayor of Taipei. I had a friend who lived here at that time and he warned me that people usually run red lights and that traffic is a free for all. COnsidering that we are dealing with a culture that finds standing in line too much for them, I’d have to say that the traffic cops do a reasonable good job.

CYA
Okami

10

I see what you mean but somehow I miss the anarchy of it all. Riding drunk with no helmet and absolutely not a care in the world regarding cops. That’s the price of progress I guess.

Mind you, as I’ve raised elsewhere, I think the red light running background helped considerably when all the traffic lights went out with the power shortages after the 921 earthquake. Came ripping over the bridge to Yong He at peak hour and despite the lights being out, traffic was much the same as normal. Everyone was just slipping in and out of the gaps like so many schools of fish. Excellent.

HG

11

Those poor buggers on traffic duty are among the few members of the force who truly earn their pay. What a Godawful job! I wouldn’t put myself in their shoes for any amount of money.

And it’s definitely true that the traffic flows more smoothly when they’re on duty – though I curse them when they’re operating the lights and they make me wait about three times as long as usual on a red (as is often the case along Beixin and Bei-I Roads at the weekend).

The best example of traffic copping I’ve ever seen here was when a guy on a mortorbike ran a red light right under the policeman’s nose, slowed down when the policeman blew his whistle and yelled at him to stop, had second thoughts and tried to ride away, but was caught and pulled off his bike by an athletic lunge from the hero in blue, so that the bike went over and both men went sprawling in the gutter. It made me want to go over and pat that young constable on the back and commend him for his enthusiasm in enforcing the law. If only they were all like that!

12

[quote=“Omniloquacious”]The best example of traffic copping I’ve ever seen here was when a guy on a mortorbike ran a red light right under the policeman’s nose, slowed down when the policeman blew his whistle and yelled at him to stop, had second thoughts and tried to ride away, but was caught and pulled off his bike by an athletic lunge from the hero in blue, so that the bike want over and both men went sprawling in the gutter. It made me want to go over and pat that young constable on the back and commend him for his enthusiasm in enforcing the law. If only they were all like that![/quote]I do go up to them and congratulate them every time I see them enforce the law willingly and fairly. In 8 years I have done it once.

If the police did their job and enforced things like traffic lights and dangerous driving, there would be no need for them to direct traffic.

13

At a medium-size intersection near me, sometimes there are a pair of policemen. One uses a digital camera. It would be morally very wrong to feel the slightest amusement when a smug driver of an SUV displays his usual lack of regard for the rest of the human race, only to realise - too late - that his misdemeanours have been captured on camera.

14

Hee, hee! There are few things more satisfying than seeing an SUV driver get his or her comeuppance.

15

[quote=“Big Fluffy Matthew”]

If the police did their job and enforced things like traffic lights and dangerous driving, there would be no need for them to direct traffic.[/quote]

And is that what they are not doing when they are standing at the intersection directing traffic

Dangerous driving is related to the education or lack of here in Taiwan, or stupdity. When they think they do not have to pay a fine for breaking the law, then they break the law. The laws being there to protect them and ensure safety on the roads is lost to them

How many people would overtake another car on the mountain roads in Taiwan leading to head on collisons, simply to get one car further in the long line of traffic
I think that also too many Taiwanese and more notibly Taiwanese guys are mama’s boys. mama told them all their life that they were a boy and super and handsome and always right… therefore when they are on the roads… in queues in the 7-11… they think it is their right to do whatever they want to and barge, drive dangerously, whatever… it seems irrelavnt to them about the safety or the fact they should show courtesy to other people…
There we go lets flame!!

16

Yeah SUV bo%&cks

What are they doing driving an SUV here anyway, is the purpose to kill scooter riders and anything else they hit?
Funnily enough, when I was in malaysia it was a chinese who was driving an SUV who almost hit me

Those traffic police are absolutely needed. Last week they were missing from a major intersection near Taipei train st. , holy shit, that was mayhem. A bus was almost forced to go around my boss on the wrong side of the road. Another bus was jammed in the middle with scooters and cars sneaking around it.
Then another car shot thru a red light to jump in a gap almost wiping out three scooter riders.
One word here would be -FOOLISH

Another word would be- SELFISH BASTARDS
That’s why when I have my regular lash out at some ignorant in the line up or whatever and my girlfriend says don’t do that. Well I just answer they wouldn’t give a shit if you just upped and died right here on the spot. She says why don’t I say it politely. I suppose the fact is whatever way I say it they would ignore me so I may aswell get a multilingual rant in to piss them off. Most of them would walk over your body (well give it a good skirting distance but you get my point)

Anyone hits me they’d be better keep riding, if I catch up with one I might take out all my built up frustrations.

Sorry but after living here three years i’m still happy the world isn’t run by these entirely selfish people.

17

One of the things I especially like about Penghu and which makes me very keen on the idea of going to live there permanently some time in the future (if only it weren’t for the winter winds, lack of trees and water shortage) is the brilliant job the police do in strictly enforcing the traffic laws there. There are policemen patrolling everywhere, on foot and in cars, and they instantly react to anyone breaking any traffic law. As a result, it’s an absolute pleasure to walk about the streets of Makung unimperilled by dangerous drivers and unimpeded by illegal parkers, and it’s so relaxing to ride anywhere around the island.

It makes Penghu seem like a totally different country, not a part of Taiwan at all. People have actually got into the habit of routinely giving way to other vehicles, and even stopping to let pedestrians cross the road in front of them! It’s absolutely wonderful, and I give full marks to the excellent county commissioner who, I believe, is mainly responsible for it.

I would never dream of buying or trying to drive a car in or around Taipei, but if I ever do move to Penghu, I’ll immediately buy a shiny new car and revel in the long-lost pleasure of driving in such civilized conditions.

18

The cops are there because most of the Taiwanese are colour blind. I always wondered how they got their drivers license? Came it with a pack of dried noodles maybe?

Anyhow, what nerves me most is that all of the drivers never stop when another vehicle is manuevering on the road, they always try to slip through the smallest gap. Dito for scooter drivers. If they would wait 30 seconds than all would be save for everyone…but no…risk your and other’s lives to be a few seconds earlier. I’ve seen scooters almost getting crushed at the back of truck that was trying to access a factory’s gate. No brain I would say just a bunch of TOFU under the scull.

19

…and nothing to do.

20

…and nothing to do.[/quote]

With those lovely beaches and the open sea wherever you look, how could you say there’s nothing to do there, Wolf! What’s more, the local girls are absolutely charming, you can get online as easily as you can in Taipei, and – mark this – you can even buy the Taipei Times in many of their convenience stores. What more could you possibly ask for?