Hardly a week goes by without the Taipei Times receiving at least one letter from a disgruntled foreign national expressing concerns about the disregard for even the most basic of pedestrian rights in Taiwan.
It might appear from reading these letters that the only people who show any concern for the rampant misuse of sidewalks and the blase attitudes of car and motorbike drivers, are the nation's expats.
The truth is very different, however, and expats are far from alone in their loathing of irresponsible shop owners/street vendors who illegally block sidewalks and drivers who believe that sidewalks and pedestrian crossings belong to them. Everyone, in fact, is keen to see a change in the way people view the unobserved rights of pedestrians, be they in Taipei, Kaohsiung or Kenting.
PHOTO:TAIPEI TIMES
"I think that it's got to the stage now where many people feel that enough is enough," said Huang Shu-li of the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning at Taiwan National University. "Unfortunately, I don't think that [pedestrian rights] are high on the agendas of those in a position to do anything about it. I certainly don't think that the mayor of Taipei [Ma Ying-jeou,
Like Huang, 68-year-old retired university librarian, Chen Mei-chun also believes that it's about time something was done to put an end to the poor manner in which pedestrians are treated. She doesn't care what the mayor thinks, however, as all she wants to do is to be able to walk to her local market without being run down by an irresponsible motorist.
The short walk to her local market on Taishun Street is fraught with danger. The sidewalk-less street is awash with unlawfully parked vehicles and vendors are crammed into the narrow roadside area designated for pedestrian use.
"It's terrible. I can't even walk out of the door of my family's apartment some days without having to avoid some kind of vehicle," said the retiree. "I have to walk less than 200m to the market, but there are cars and motorcycles parked everywhere. I have to walk in the road as there is no other way the get there."
"It is annoying and I get frustrated when I see someone on a motorcycle using the sidewalk, or I can't walk down it because some vendor has illegally set up shop," said Lo Jyuhn-sheng, director of Taipei's maintenance department, part of the public works bureau. "When I see someone doing it makes me mad. Of course, I'll politely tell them that they shouldn't do it, but I doubt that they would pay attention to me."
Motorcyclists caught flouting the law and impeding the rights of pedestrians do face fines, but they are minimal. And as anyone who has been run down by a wayward motorcyclist on the sidewalk will attest, the fines -- which range from NT$600 to NT$1,800 -- are clearly not a deterrent.
"It's like a game of `how close can I get before I hit someone,''" said European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT) CEO, Guy Wittich. "I watch my children all the time because you just don't feel safe on the [sidewalks]. It's almost like there's a thin line between life and death."
Every month Taipei City Government and the Taipei City Police Department receive dozens of letters of complaint from concerned citizens. And while the police encourage citizens to take an active role in trying to clean up the city, without photographic evidence the perpetrators cannot be punished. Because of this the city government has recently begun to encourage citizens to take photographs of wayward motorists.
"We do see a lot more citizens taking an active role in helping us, or rather trying to help us enforce the law," said Robert You, a duty officer at a Chengchang District police station. "People are willing to report the problems they have encountered on sidewalks. Of course, without clear photographic evidence, such as a number plate, we can't do anything."
Indifferent store keepers/vendors who block sidewalks have recently become the focus of attention. Two months ago the illegal use of sidewalks by storeowners made headline news following the assault on an ETTV cameraman who was badly beaten by a storeowner while filming. And he's certainly not the first to feel the ire of storekeepers who presume that the sidewalk belongs to them. Last year a reporter working on the same story had a knife thrown at him by a betel nut lady, whose booth was blocking a sidewalk.
Like the fines imposed on drivers the penalties for vendors are minimal. Stall holders face fines of as little as NT$1,000 and store keepers can be fined upwards of NT$10,000 for persistent sidewalk infringements.
"I get a warning or a fine every couple of weeks," said an illegal vendor dealing in women's clothes on Nanjing East Road. "But on a good day I can make upwards of NT$3,000 so I'm certainly not going to worry about a such an insignificant fine."
Of course, in order to fine the vendors the police first have to catch them, which is another matter entirely as any street vendor will attest to.
"The police only come and tell us to move on if there's nothing else to do or their station's quota needs boosting," said Ah-Shun, a middle-aged umbrella vendor who was raking in a profit near Taipei Train Station earlier this week. "Some times I don't see a policeman for weeks and at others I'll see them coming, but they don't do anything. It's just a scare tactic."
According to officer Luo, the police do make serious attempts to catch, fine and if need be prosecute illegal street vendors who impede sidewalks. Unfortunately he also admitted that nabbing street vendors is "small time" and is a battle the already undermanned police force cannot "really hope to win."
The police officer is quick to defend the police force from criticism leveled against it and feels the best way to resolve the city's sidewalk problem is through education.
"People in Taiwan have this belief that motorists are number one and that pedestrians are number two," said Lo. "It's a backwards of way looking at things, and for foreigners it must seem very odd indeed. If we ever hope to resolve the sidewalks issue then we have to begin by altering this opinion."
Ask any civil servant or an academic why this rather off-center line of thinking is tolerated by many in Taiwan and chances are they'll draw a blank. Ask the same individual what needs to be done in order to reverse this line of thought, however, and you'll be met with a plethora of ideas and opinions.
"Firstly, the law must be enforced. Those who ride or set up shop on sidewalks should be punished. Secondly, we need to re-educate both motorists and pedestrians as to what is acceptable behavior and what is not," said Huang. "Both education and enforcement are vital if we want to change the way people think and provide pedestrians with the rights entitled to them."
Although the laws pertaining to pedestrian rights are posted, both in English and Chinese on the Taipei City Government's Web site, there has never been an organized city-wide advertising campaign aimed at informing Taipei residents of their rights as pedestrians. In the coming months this is something that Wittich and other ECCT members hope to see change.
The Better Living Committee, which is one of 26 commissions working under the auspices of the ECCT, brought the plight of pedestrians to the attention of the Taipei City Government last December after the issue of traffic regulation enforcement and pedestrian safety was included in the European trade and business groups' 2004-2005 Position Papers.
"Mayor Ma has acknowledged the issue and understands the need for further improvement. But I don't think that it is a priority," said Wittich. "What we'd like to see is a public awareness campaign much like those used to inform people about the dangers of drunk driving and the motorcycle helmet law."
The recent nationwide anti-drunk driving campaign Wittich referred to has proved to be successful. The results have been so staggering, in fact, that according to Luo, spot checks by uniformed police officers stationed roadside are no longer a viable way to nab offenders. To reach their monthly quota several police precincts have been forced to go so far as to embark on undercover operations in order to catch drunk drivers.
"The drink driving and motorcycle helmet campaigns were both hugely successful because of the amount of media attention and advertising given to them," Wittich said. "I don't see why such shock tactics couldn't be used in a campaign aimed at raising the awareness of the need to respect pedestrians and their rights of way."
It could still be several years, however, before the city's sidewalks are motorcycle-free. One of the biggest stumbling blocks impeding motorcycle-free sidewalks is land. According to the latest figures there are over 1 million registered motorcycles in Taipei City and nearly 2 million in Taipei County. On any given day the owners of many of these machines vie for one of Taipei City's 84,000 legal roadside parking spaces, or one of the city's 39,289 legal off-road parking spaces.
"We have tried to increase the size of many of the city's sidewalks in order to provide both walkways and parking spaces, but these projects are only feasible on the city's larger thoroughfares. Even if we did provide adequate parking and spend millions, the problem won't go away," said the director of the Taipei City maintenance department. "Clearing the sidewalks and making Taipei a `nicer' city really comes down to educating people as to what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable behavior."
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