I am writing in response to the letter from Craig Dodge (Letters, Nov. 6, page 8).
Dodge proposes deploying more motorcycles as a solution to Taipei's traffic and pollution problems. That's just what we need in this woefully congested, polluted city, where wholly irresponsible scooter drivers run riot.
"Drivers seem to have this feeling of entitlement," Dodge wrote, and they misguidedly "view motorcycles as a nuisance." I'll keep "entitlement" and "nuisance" in mind the next time I dodge a scooter cruising at medium speed through a crowd of pedestrians in a crosswalk in Taipei, roaring through a red light at top speed, or forcing me to leap to the side of a bike and walking path along a river in Taipei (where scooters are, ostensibly, forbidden).
We can also wax enthusiastic about scooters and their drivers as we pick our way through a multitude of scooters clogging Taipei sidewalks, making our way through some of the most uncomfortable, dirty, chaotic conditions we have to live with in this city.
Dodge does some math and figures that things would be a whole lot better in Taiwan if every car driver would just get a scooter -- as if adding tens of thousands more of those obnoxious machines on the roads would transform Taiwanese cities into Shangri-Las.
Dodge asks if scooters are as noisy as diesel trucks and buses. I don't have the numbers to back up my claim, but I have noted that three or four of those howler-monkey, shrieking scooter engines can easily be as noisy as a city bus. And multiply that by tens of thousands.
This city's noise pollution -- a greatly overlooked problem in Taipei -- is created first and foremost by scooters. And let's not even talk about how much air pollution the millions of scooters create.
Don't get me wrong. I am not advocating a few million more automobiles in Taiwan. The vehicle culture here is an absolute tragedy -- and one of the reasons that so many people are left shaking their heads at what they witness.
The best thing that could ever happen to Taiwan is if there were virtually no scooters at all and if we work to reduce the number of automobiles. Then maybe we can use other responsible transportation solutions to try to create a safer, more comfortable, cleaner and certainly much greener and sustainable society.
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