go into any place and there are binglan masticating folks. isn’t chewing this carcinagin in public places illegal?
they get the cancer and then expect the nationalized halth care to pay for their care. is binglan even taxed? what kind of cluster even allows this circular firing squad to thrive?
needless to say, they spill their spit cups all over. this has to be health hazard.
Smoking is worse, that should be illegal in public places like shops and offices too, but sometimes I can’t go find anywhere to avoid it.
Drinking, too. And driving scooters (all those spinal cord injuries). Ice cream - it just makes you fat and then everyone else has to pay for your liposuction. And farting - do we really need to have more greenhouse gases?
yes, even accounting for sarcasm. scooters and cars are out of control. why have something that can go 140 km/hr when the speed limit is 60 or 80? i used to have the same question back home and never could find out why car speedometers went up to 140 when the speed limit was 55.
scooters are rampant and the cops do nothing. taiwan is crying to be tax poor but cannot seem to collect taxes. yes, every scooter on the road should pay usage fees(via registration fees). a quick survey of the scooters in the lobby reveal that only 7 of 42 bear the required registration stickers. what is that? one out of six actually in compliance with registration laws! why couldn’t the engines get to the fire in the last big time conflagration? because the laws are not enforced.
make simple laws, enforce them honestly and the people will be good. make vague laws and enforce them loosely and no one will have even the slightest regard for social order.
back home, where there is NO subsidized health care to speak of smoking in public is on its way out. that such is tolerated in a communal system (for lack of a better term) while the state has/had the monopoly on manufacture is laughable.
you right to pursue freedom ends at the tip of my nose.
[quote=“skeptic yank”]scooters are rampant and the cops do nothing. Taiwan is crying to be tax poor but cannot seem to collect taxes. yes, every scooter on the road should pay usage fees(via registration fees). a quick survey of the scooters in the lobby reveal that only 7 of 42 bear the required registration stickers. what is that? one out of six actually in compliance with registration laws! why couldn’t the engines get to the fire in the last big time conflagration? because the laws are not enforced.
make simple laws, enforce them honestly and the people will be good. make vague laws and enforce them loosely and no one will have even the slightest regard for social order.[/quote]
Especially in re: to such visible scooter violations as lacking registration stickers and emitting clouds of blue smoke. I guess you could argue that citizens would vote against Ma in the next election if he authorized such crackdowns? Then again, that same argument could apply to forcing the drivers (and passengers) to wear helmets, but that’s been by and large successful (though I still see people on scooters with small children, who are not wearing helmets).
There is no history of Rule of Law here and therefore even with a will to adopt such a system, it will take generations.
they adapted to the safetybelt ordinance clearly enough. why? the gov’t kept making announcements beforehand that on a certain date the laws would be enforced. the vast majority of drivers seem to follow this law.
they seem to accept the helmets for motorscoters for the most part in urban areas.
why? both of the above are easy to spot check. it is a simple matter to regulate. the constables here enforce the law when they want to. as you know, traffic wil be its laissez-faire self and then one day there will be policemen at every intersection. people see the crackdown in effect and stop the shenanigans. the cops go away after the campaign ends and everything resorts back to its primordial state.
if scooter registration laws were enforced, the blue clouds of poorly maintained scoots would also decrease.
Shocking!
Shocking![/quote]
Isn’t it just ! 
I found myself cursing scooters the first year when I was here as well. People use them to drive those 30 meters to the closest 711, and they make obstacle courses out of every sidewalk in Taiwan. I bet 80% of people that ride scooters in Taiwan has been in a scooter accident. Taiwanese legs are rarely a pretty sight. 
Then again, if the Taiwanese weren’t driving scooters, they would probably drive cars instead. Even more polluting and space demanding. :?
[quote=“lysfjord”]I found myself cursing scooters the first year when I was here as well. People use them to drive those 30 meters to the closest 711, and they make obstacle courses out of every sidewalk in Taiwan. I bet 80% of people that ride scooters in Taiwan has been in a scooter accident. Taiwanese legs are rarely a pretty sight.
Then again, if the Taiwanese weren’t driving scooters, they would probably drive cars instead. Even more polluting and space demanding. :?[/quote]
Mini-copters I say. A lot more room up there than down here.