DPP is deaf and dumb
Even though the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential primary is an internal party affair, it is also good for all Taiwanese to understand the goals of each candidate in the race.
Good communication using TV broadcasts and the Internet are so critical and can help spread one's message around the world. During the debates there is a man in the top corner of the TV screen providing sign language to help the deaf understand.
Unfortunately, there are still many people who don't understand Taiwanese (Hoklo), such as second-generation Mainlanders who live in the Taipei area and Hakka people in Miaoli, like my brother, my sister-in-law, their children and myself.
It appears the DPP does not care about these people. Subtitles should be made available at the bottom of TV screens at the very least for the deaf and those people who don't understand Taiwanese.
I guess the sign language provided during the debates is also in Taiwanese (Hoklo).
I know many Taiwanese who complained about the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) language policy because they couldn't understand Beijing Mandarin.
Therefore older Taiwanese may as well be deaf.
Why does the DPP choose to follow the same idiotic policies as the KMT?
Someone please communicate with the DPP about this problem and tell them that remedying it could help it to win the presidential election.
Paul Huang
Richardson, Texas
Road users need re-education
Motorcycles and cars should be allowed to use the same streets ("Bikers block Renai Road in protest of regulations," April 16, page 2), but prior to any law allowing such big bikes on the roads, three things must happen first.
One: re-education of car drivers. At present, police hardly ever pull people over for major infractions such as changing lanes without signaling, running red lights (imagine an accident caused by a car not signaling and ramming the side of a large motorcycle). There is absolutely zero enforcement of any laws. Take a drive and you will see countless motorists -- on scooters and in cars -- using mobile phones, yet the law prohibiting this has been in force for more than one year. The police see it and do nothing.
Two: re-education of motorcycle riders. Large motorcycle riders operate their machines just as idiotically as scooter riders. Teach them defensive riding techniques instead of making them pass pointless exams that require useless skills like riding through cones.
Three: police enforcement. I have only seen the police pull someone over for a "moving violation" once. If police do pull someone over, 99.9 percent of the time it is a scooter when the most egregious violators are usually motorists.
Without enforcement, laws or by-laws are useless. Let's "enforce and teach" good driving etiquette so once cars and motorcycles are allowed to share the same roads, less accidents will happen.
Joseph Hsu
Neihu
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