Riding a scooter or a motorbike in Taiwan

I just know this is how I’m going to end up here :

It’s not about me. I’m relatively a slow and careful driver, even on a rush. My speed meter does work (:S), but I know that relatively slower than most other scooter drivers and I don’t think I ever go above 40-50km/h. Still, every day I have about 2 or 3 ”almost accidents” that either happen to me or somebody really close to me, and every once in a while, like in this photo I captured yesterday morning while driving on Gong-Yuan south road, things get nasty, really nasty.

Foreigners like to make fun of the Taiwanese driving rules, pointing out people who drive through red lights and against traffic and generally saying that the Taiwanese don’t give a shit about the law and that the police is non-existent.

Here’s a little from the entertaining “Take on Taiwan” about “Drivers in Taiwan” :

After traveling through Eastern and South-Eastern Africa, through Europe, and a few countries in South-East Asia, I would have to say that Taiwanese roads are the most dangerous that I have ever seen. [...]

This alternative code is built around getting to your destination as quickly as possible with little or no regard to the safety of yourself and others. Some of the main points: [..]

In Taiwan people drive on the right, but under certain special circumstances, especially if riding a motorbike or moped, driving on the left is accepted. [...]

When turning right, even onto a busy road, it’s not necessary to wait for a gap in the traffic. In fact, you don’t even need to look and check if there any cars coming your way. Feel free to put people’s lives in danger. [..]

Speed Limits - These are more of a guideline than an actual rule. They’re meant for new drivers, women, not for the likes of you. [...]

And the final conclusion:

Taiwan’s roads are extremely dangerous and to survive them you need to do more than just prepare for the worst. Expect to be amazed by some new act of lunacy every time you get on your bike or in your car. Even then, even if you’re a careful driver, and many are, there’s no guarantee of safety when the roads are filled with so many complete idiots.

Taiwanese driving culture, overall, is completely different. Here’s a little from Garret :

For example, it is commonplace to see someone driving a scooter with a full sized husky standing on his hind-legs, but when I saw the dog jump off the scooter in the middle of the intersection this morning, and slam its face in the ground, well then I was a little shocked.

Yeah, 3-5 people on a small scooter, not including the dog in the front/back. Sometimes people don’t wear helmets and when they do, it’s those construction type ones that will probably not help much. People talk on their mobile or pop a smoke while driving. But that’s just normal …

The Real Taiwan recently wrote about an accident involving a scooter ran by a car driving through a red light with this following horrible horrible video (not recommended for the fragile among us):

Michael Turton has a whole series written about the issue like “Accident and Aftermath” & “Driving and Land Use in Taiwan“, complete with photos and even a dedicated introduction page.

Most of this is true, yet- strangely - it seems like in general the system here works. Things are a lot more strict in Israel, but the accident ratio doesn’t seem to be much different and I think the accidents in Israel are usually a lot more brutal because those not following the rules usually do it in a very extreme way. Previously driving in Thailand and Vietnam I know things here are actually not that bad. It’s just that by the time a foreigner gets used to what’s happening, things are bound to happen. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about this.