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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