[quote=“trapjaw”]
One of my friends at Kojen once got given a one-on-one student who had named himself Goebbels.[/quote]
Of all possible names that could be chosen,
A certain school decided to call itself H—
It made my heart frozen
And nothing less
[quote=“sojourner”]One Taiwan’s finer citizens just cut me off at high speed forcing me to either slam on the brakes or get up close and personal with a bus.
So, I slammed on the brakes and honked at him for about 3 seconds.
Well, as you can imagine, he was outraged and cursed me out in Taiwanese.
Silly me, I forgot that I shouldn’t react to potentially deadly actions of others. Why, it just isn’t good for social harmony.
Oh, and remember too, if you don’t apologize, you haven’t done anything wrong.
Sometimes, I forget why I stay here. Such a great, educated and caring society here.[/quote]
It is acceptablehere to cut people off. You have to expect it will happen, learning to anticipate it so you can make counter actions to not allow it, or evasive measures. If you honk and scream or protest. It is you that looks the jerk, not the one that cut you off. This is a different country with different driving customs. Don’t expect it to be like back home.
[quote=“Hobart”][quote=“sojourner”]One Taiwan’s finer citizens just cut me off at high speed forcing me to either slam on the brakes or get up close and personal with a bus.
So, I slammed on the brakes and honked at him for about 3 seconds.
Well, as you can imagine, he was outraged and cursed me out in Taiwanese.
Silly me, I forgot that I shouldn’t react to potentially deadly actions of others. Why, it just isn’t good for social harmony.
Oh, and remember too, if you don’t apologize, you haven’t done anything wrong.
Sometimes, I forget why I stay here. Such a great, educated and caring society here.[/quote]
It is acceptablehere to cut people off. You have to expect it will happen, learning to anticipate it so you can make counter actions to not allow it, or evasive measures. If you honk and scream or protest. It is you that looks the jerk, not the one that cut you off. This is a different country with different driving customs. Don’t expect it to be like back home.[/quote]
Is it aceptable to scratch paint off cars that are trying to cut you off?
Scratching your paint is a considered a good reason to get out of your car and rant and rave. It is also an excuse to call the cops to document everything and to make sure they pay you for the damages.
I hate bus drivers.
It depends on who is doing the honking, screaming and protesting. Like last night, when Mr. Jaguar was honking and screaming at the bikes in the bike lane so he could undertake some cars. Of course, he wasn’t the jerk - I was for telling him to fuck off - and he stuck his head out of the window and told me how I was such a rude foreigner for having the nerve to question his driving habits.
Really.
Sometimes I just want to beat the shit out of every driver on the road.
[quote=“sojourner”]One Taiwan’s finer citizens just cut me off at high speed forcing me to either slam on the brakes or get up close and personal with a bus.
So, I slammed on the brakes and honked at him for about 3 seconds.
[/quote]
Thats bad, honking is supposed to be as a warning only, not to curse on people. 
[quote=“Hobart”][quote=“sojourner”]One Taiwan’s finer citizens just cut me off at high speed forcing me to either slam on the brakes or get up close and personal with a bus.
So, I slammed on the brakes and honked at him for about 3 seconds.
Well, as you can imagine, he was outraged and cursed me out in Taiwanese.
Silly me, I forgot that I shouldn’t react to potentially deadly actions of others. Why, it just isn’t good for social harmony.
Oh, and remember too, if you don’t apologize, you haven’t done anything wrong.
Sometimes, I forget why I stay here. Such a great, educated and caring society here.[/quote]
It is acceptablehere to cut people off. You have to expect it will happen, learning to anticipate it so you can make counter actions to not allow it, or evasive measures. If you honk and scream or protest. It is you that looks the jerk, not the one that cut you off. This is a different country with different driving customs. Don’t expect it to be like back home.[/quote]
I drive every day and I know the score on getting cut off.
The problem with this guy was that he cut me off so closely that he very nearly caused me to crash into either him or a bus.
So, this wasn’t just cutting in line.
If you knew these details, I doubt you’d give me the old ethnocentric driving lecture.
Did you know (no, of course you didn’t, it’s impossible to guess given what happens in Taiwan) that the Motor Vehicle Law stipulates that it is illegal to sound your horn more than twice in a row, and each sounding of the horn may not be more than one-half second in duration?
:roflmao:
[quote=“Hobart”]
It is acceptablehere to cut people off. You have to expect it will happen, learning to anticipate it so you can make counter actions to not allow it, or evasive measures. If you honk and scream or protest. It is you that looks the jerk, not the one that cut you off. This is a different country with different driving customs. Don’t expect it to be like back home.[/quote]
It is not acceptable to cut people off here. I have asked several Taiwanese people about it and they say it’s rude. It’s just that there are a large number of really selfish people here.
The “One apple can spoil the bunch” thing is totally different here than it is back home. There are a larger number of bad apples. But to say that it is “acceptable” I think isn’t true. Ask your Taiwanese friends.
You only have two options. One: curse and shout, and spend your time in Taiwan in a bad mood. Two: go with the flow. Once you stop trying to force western driving rules on everyone else, you’ll find that you can actually get around quite easily. Just don’t ever let your guard down. However, there will never be any proper way to deal with the all those ridiculous honda civics and mitsubishi lancers. Taiwanese gearheads drive with their ego, not their skills.
If you want to see some truly bad driving, ride a scooter or drive a car in Phnom Penh or Saigon, or any other big south-asian city. Whoo baby, it makes Taiwan look pretty damn organized.
On my morning commute I have to make a left at a pretty busy intersection. The left-turn filter light only lasts a couple of seconds so the cars have to start turning left quickly or no more than two or three cars are going to make it across. Of course, the usual rule applies to the red in the other direction: Red means two more can cross. I don’t buy into that so if I’m at the head of the left-turn queue I start off as soon as the light turns right. Without fail the two red light runners will honk, flip me the bird or give me the ‘wtf?’ look as I force them to either stop or swerve around me. They obviously think I’m wrong for trying to make a left when it’s my turn, and that they’re perfectly entitled to blow off a red light when it’s convenient.
:loco:
If it’s only a few bad apples, then why is it that this is played out every single day rather once in a while? Do I just have the bad luck to keep meeting the few selfish bad apples? I kinda doubt it.
It’s institutionalized ignorance and irresponsibility. (Quite proud of that phrase).
Actual malicious and deliberately aggressive driving is rare and most people frown on it. The “bad apple” thing applies in this case.
But the majority of drivers here are genuinely ignorant of how their actions affect others. I’ve been in cars with some very nice people driving, but they still drive like w***ers because they don’t know any better.
As Ironlady pointed out, perhaps you should compare a western highway code to a Taiwanese highway code and note the differences. The rules are basically the same - they’re just not enforced and followed even less.
[quote=“joesax”]Actual malicious and deliberately aggressive driving is rare and most people frown on it.[/quote]Depends on where you are really. In Taipei City I experience very little in the way of direct provocation, just a lot of people in a hurry, trying to get ahead and willing to be pushy if necessary. In comparison, driving in certain other metropolitan areas people will just cut me off for the hell of it. It’s not taking anything off their journey time and might easily be slowing them down to do so. Have you never had someone cruising behind you in the next lane happily for km after km suddenly speed up to come alongside the moment you put your blinker on to change lanes? How about overtake on your right, cut into your lane while they’re only halfway past, only to make a right turn a moment later?
No rational explanation for this at all. Antilogic.
I agree that we shouldn’t ascribe malice to an action that is easily explained as stupidity (to paraphrase someone’s sig line) but let’s call a spade a spade here. There are a lot of road users out there whose idea of fun is to make your day just a little more miserable. 
[quote=“redwagon”]Have you never had someone cruising behind you in the next lane happily for km after km suddenly speed up to come alongside the moment you put your blinker on to change lanes? How about overtake on your right, cut into your lane while they’re only halfway past, only to make a right turn a moment later?
No rational explanation for this at all. Antilogic.[/quote]Yes, I’ve experienced some stuff like that. I didn’t mean that it doesn’t happen, just that the usual bog-standard ignorance, lack of skill and lack of consideration is much more common.
And even in some of these cases I wonder whether it’s actually aggression or just plain loopiness.
[quote=“joesax”]… the usual bog-standard ignorance, lack of skill and lack of consideration is much more common.
[/quote]No argument from me on that point!
[quote]And even in some of these cases I wonder whether it’s actually aggression or just plain loopiness.[/quote]Yes, sometimes it’s a tough call but some areas this just happens so damn often and it’s so blatant I have to conclude that it’s the norm there to try to piss off as many other drivers as possible. I’m not a great judge of what other people are thinking but some of the stuff I see happen makes it look like a clear case of someone going out of his way to interfere with other traffic I can only assume they are doing it deliberately. I find Tainan and Kaohsiung to be the worst for this.
It is a sad state of affairs when you can hardly tell the difference between normal stupidity-on-wheels and genuine road rage. :help:
That’s because you did it wrong. You’re big and intimidating-looking, so you should be doing The Stare instead. Flip up your visor so he can see your face, turn your head very slowly, and just stare very hard at him. You don’t have to move or do anything else. Just stare. Direct eye contact REALLY puts the shits up them, as a rule.