[quote=“Captain Stag”]
Sure…when the cop says ‘fuck that’ and doesn’t ticket every car illegally parked it ends up encouraging those selfish pricks to park their cars wherever and however…because each and every other person who is legally parked is almost sure to get an invitation to pay for parking by those ‘meter maids’…that’s the problem…a single cop can only handle so much at a time…if there are 20 illegally parked cars on a street, then he starts with the first one and makes his way back…just like those meter maids do when handling legal parking invitations to pay…sometimes, I’m lucky to return to my car just as the meter maid was 2 cars down from mine…free parking…but most of the time, they get me and even though I’ve only parked for 10 minutes, I have to pay the 20$NT for the first hour…the point being…cops should just get on with their job and not worry about people’s bitching…it’s not right that people who are legally parked have to pay (no matter how small the parking fee is) and selfish ass clowns do as they wish and get away with it…the meter maids don’t have a problem doing their jobs…what’s the cops excuse?[/quote]
This is the crux of the matter. The lack of enforcement by the police punishes the law-abiding by making them pay to park while rewarding the law-breakers with free parking.
A long time ago it was suggested that the meter-maids be allowed to hand out parking fines (tickets) like they do in the West. The police force was horrified at that suggestion and insisted that mere civilians could not act like police officers and give out tickets. Of course, once they had defended their ‘turf’ they went straight back to doing fuck all. On the one hand they don’t want civvies doing ‘their’ job, but they don’t want to do that job themselves. Situation normal, all fucked up.
I think the best compromise would be to allow the meter-maids to take the photos and let the cops authenticate them and send tickets to the car’s owner. Sadly, I don’t think the cops are ever going to budge on this one. When pushed they will state they’re on it and there will be a two week crackdown on parking. Rinse and repeat.
I would vote Kaohsiung for sure…
The southerners drive like hicks, and even the police dont care if you run a roadblock or 2.
People driving the wrong way on the road, left turn on red (cops are ignoring that because they are too busy pulling over people turning right on a red), scooter punks doing 100km and weaving through lines of people… and old men and women who just dont care when they pull out… they seem to have a death wish.
That reminds me, whats with all the road blocks in taichung??
They never stop anyone and it just makes people feel uneasy driving past… maybe thats the point??
Its the only city in taiwan that does it on such a large scale every night.
[quote=“smellybumlove”]That reminds me, whats with all the road blocks in Taichung??
They never stop anyone and it just makes people feel uneasy driving past… maybe thats the point??
Its the only city in taiwan that does it on such a large scale every night.[/quote]
Well, a lot of locals complain that Taichung has no police force, meaning they do fuck all. The cops have heard about this and are doing something about it. They cruise around slowly at night with the blues on so all the law-breakers can see them coming from miles away and stop whatever they doing until the cops have passed by. They also set up roadblocks everywhere so it looks like they’re doing something, but let everyone cruise right through. I really don’t know who they are looking for. I thought for sure my ricer-special hood scoop would get me stopped. Nope. The kids next to me on scooters weren’t wearing helmets and also went straight through.
Maybe they didn’t get the memo that they can stop looking for Chen Jin-hsin?
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“smellybumlove”]That reminds me, whats with all the road blocks in Taichung??
They never stop anyone and it just makes people feel uneasy driving past… maybe thats the point??
Its the only city in taiwan that does it on such a large scale every night.[/quote]
Well, a lot of locals complain that Taichung has no police force, meaning they do fuck all. The cops have heard about this and are doing something about it. They cruise around slowly at night with the blues on so all the law-breakers can see them coming from miles away and stop whatever they doing until the cops have passed by. They also set up roadblocks everywhere so it looks like they’re doing something, but let everyone cruise right through. I really don’t know who they are looking for. I thought for sure my ricer-special hood scoop would get me stopped. Nope. The kids next to me on scooters weren’t wearing helmets and also went straight through.
Maybe they didn’t get the memo that they can stop looking for Chen Jin-hsin?[/quote]
Thats what i thought to when i was remapping the ECU on my swift on wenshin rd (i was driving, someone else was remapping) i sailed through with the wastegate making serious wooshing noises.
As for the lights on at night, i love them for that
In the past week, Taichung city has started painting some 2 meter wide lanes in green (with white line borders) for bicycle riders in both directions of TaiYuan road, heading to and from the mountains. In the golden rule of Taichung City which is “to hell with everyone else, I do what I want”, every single used car dealer along that strip had cars parked right over these new lanes within half a day…as a consequence, bicycle riders must ride ride in the scooter lane and the scooters must borrow the car lanes when required (without using their mirrors to check for cars of course!)…
On a side note, police presence has been on the up in the past week. I guess the temps have gotten cool enough for them to start their HongBao fund collection…but you must all rest assured that Taichung City’s finest do their best not to inconvenience the bad drivers. Only the weak and intimidate able folk are targeted…easy money with no fuss!
I would say Taoyuan/Chongli, mostly because of the gangster problems we have here. It seems like everyone you get into a traffic violation here is some kind of “gangster” or at least gets “gangsters” involved. The traffic gets really retarded here in the evenings too. But in general, except for Taipei all of Taiwan is horrible. I have only been to the south a couple of times, so I can’t say from experience about the cities around there. How about Kenting on a holiday weekend. Jesus, if you are in a car it takes forever to get around to the beaches. I still can’t believe the government hasn’t made that road wider. It is only two lanes, and Kenting is supposed to be Taiwan’s best tourist “get-a-way” for the Taiwanese. It just doesn’t make sense.
Any Taiwanese vacation has to include at least 8 hours of sitting in traffic jams and hanging around at freeway rest areas. It’s part of the fun.
You just don’t understand Taiwanese culture.
Any Taiwanese vacation has to include at least 8 hours of sitting in traffic jams and hanging around at freeway rest areas. It’s part of the fun.
You just don’t understand Taiwanese culture.[/quote]
Any Taiwanese vacation has to include at least 8 hours of sitting in traffic jams and hanging around at freeway rest areas. It’s part of the fun.
You just don’t understand Taiwanese culture.[/quote]
How true.
You forgot getting lost.[/quote]
The Taiwanese work around the 8~12 hours of traffic boredom by watching their favorite soap-operas or singing shows (feat Pong Chia-Chia) on their dash mounted LCDs…then again, they must be bored a lot more often than that since I see idiots watching the news (or whatever) while driving at all times of the day.
There must be an old Chinese proverb that says “a wise man always multi tasks when operating a vehicle”.
[quote=“Captain Stag”]
The Taiwanese work around the 8~12 hours of traffic boredom by watching their favorite soap-operas or singing shows (feat Pong Chia-Chia) on their dash mounted LCDs…then again, they must be bored a lot more often than that since I see idiots watching the news (or whatever) while driving at all times of the day.
There must be an old Chinese proverb that says “a wise man always multi tasks when operating a vehicle”.[/quote]
Yes well, the North American stereotype soccer mum who tries to eat breakfast, put on makeup, scold three kids and talk on the phone while at the wheel of her tank-sized SUV is not in the least untrue or exaggerated. In this respect I’d say the Taiwanese are actually underperforming.
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003459767[/quote]
Not at all surprised. I think everyone in Taiwan agrees that traffic laws should be in place, but they all believe they only apply to other people.
Here’s more proof of why a lot of roads are total crap before and after repairs and resurfacing. (note that this article only refers to Taipei road construction projects. I can imagine to what extent that corruption is in other cities here.)
Any Taiwanese vacation has to include at least 8 hours of sitting in traffic jams and hanging around at freeway rest areas. It’s part of the fun.
You just don’t understand Taiwanese culture.[/quote]
It’s a national park, they are not supposed to build expressways through it. If you built a wider road it would fill up just the same on CNY…too many cars, not enough places to go.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]
It’s a national park, they are not supposed to build expressways through it. If you built a wider road it would fill up just the same on CNY…too many cars, not enough places to go.[/quote]
Yeah, a national park with a huge beach reserved for the patrons of one hotel. :fume: :raspberry:
(not directed at you of course, just mentioning a pet peeve)
And yes, agreed that widening that road would make little difference. Everyone knows what the traffic is going to be like before they get in their cars, but they go anyway. Building an expressway down there wouldn’t fix the bottleneck, which is the main drag through town. Therefore, the end result wouldn’t be any different.
I honestly don’t know why anyone would go down there on a major holiday. The hotels are overpriced rubbish by international standards, there is not one iota of charm to that town and by the time you fight your way through the traffic you could have already landed in Phuket and be enjoying yourself.
But anyway, this is a thread about traffic in the cities, not at the holiday resorts…
[quote=“redwagon”]Yeah, a national park with a huge beach reserved for the patrons of one hotel. :fume: :raspberry:
[/quote]
Er, again, no. The Chateau has not had control over the main beach for quite some time. In fact they never did, though their customers had preferential access. You were always supposed to be able to pay to access it. In exchange the hotel was supposed to maintain the beach. They didn’t and they tried to keep everyone out all the same.
[quote=“Mucha Man”][quote=“redwagon”]Yeah, a national park with a huge beach reserved for the patrons of one hotel. :fume: :raspberry:
[/quote]
Er, again, no. The Chateau has not had control over the main beach for quite some time. In fact they never did, though their customers had preferential access. You were always supposed to be able to pay to access it. In exchange the hotel was supposed to maintain the beach. They didn’t and they tried to keep everyone out all the same.[/quote]
Thanks. I guess it has been a few years since I went down there. The idea of trying to swim amongst turds and jetskis isn’t so attractive, and I can get crappy nightmarket food much closer to home.
