One of the first things a newcomer to Taipei notices is the traffic — scooters buzzing by, taxis that don’t stop for pedestrians, bus drivers that drive like they’re on bicycles.
Ask a Taiwanese person why people drive this way, and many will tell you that it’s just the way Taiwanese drive, a sort of “Driving with Taiwanese characteristics” philosophy.
But this is simply not true.
If Taiwanese all drove however they wanted to drive, why did motorcyclists start wearing crash helmets in the late 1990s? In the early 1990s, if you saw one motorcyclist out of 1,000 wearing a helmet, you would be rooted to the ground in shock. Why do taxi drivers now insist that the front-seat passenger wear a seatbelt? In the 1990s, a taxi driver would be insulted if a passenger were to attempt to wear a seatbelt and would insist that his driving skills were the best on the road, all the while saying there was nothing to worry about.
All jokes aside about Taiwanese drivers’ unwillingness to stop at a red traffic light, the situation is much better than it used to be. In the past, drivers simply used red traffic lights as cautionary signals, letting them know there might be oncoming traffic as they raced across the road.
What has changed? Why is it that Taiwanese motorists now wear helmets and seatbelts, stop at red lights, and, for the most part, don’t drive drunk?
The answer is simple: enforcement.
Drivers in Taipei and the rest of Taiwan did not simply decide in unison to strap on, buckle up and come to a stop; they were told to, when various local governments passed laws to make the roads safer.
However, simply stipulating that motorcyclists must wear helmets was not enough. Officials had to have the political will to push police forces to enforce the laws that were passed. That is what happened when the Democratic Progressive Party administration of Taipei City made people wear crash helmets in the late 1990s.
Police were told to set up random spot checks around the city and any motorcyclist caught without a helmet was fined. In a short time, people caught on to the fact that the government meant business this time and they couldn’t just ignore this new law with impunity as they had all the others that preceded it. There was a sudden rush on crash helmets as motorcyclists feared being caught out.
The same happened with seatbelts and is ongoing with drunk driving.
These days, a few too many beers at the local diner and a drive home can land a person in a lot of hot water, resulting in a lost license, a huge fine and possible criminal charges.
However, much remains to be done as a stroll around the streets of Taipei during rush hour shows. Motorcyclists may be wearing crash helmets, but few are interested in the quaint idea of pedestrians having right of way. Drivers of large SUVs are even worse, with pedestrians on some occasions having to jump out of the way or run the risk of getting run over as they risk life and limb just to cross the road.
Why is it that a few strict traffic guidelines were set in place in the late 1990s, but nothing seems to have been done over the last 12 years to build on that?
The laws are already on the books — drivers are supposed to give pedestrians the right of way, motorcycles should not be driven on sidewalks and scooters should not be left unattended with their engines running for more than a minute. Yet we see such things all the time, as well as backsliding as more and more people get away with riding motorcycles without helmets.
The answer is simple: enforcement. For 12 years, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government of Taipei has shown that it isn’t interested in enforcing traffic laws. If the current administration fails to tackle this problem it risks having to make way for a new administration.
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