Besides being legally defined as slow-moving vehicles, bicycles in Taiwan may now acquire a new definition as "speedy pedestrians" or suren (
The new definition was proposed by the Institute of Transportation, the organization that makes recommendations on transportation policy to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).
The institute's transportation engineering division director James Tseng (
In other circumstances, however, cyclists may be asked to dismount and walk their bikes instead.
"The idea is that rather than fighting for the right of way, vehicles and pedestrians learn to share limited space," he said.
Some argue that bicycles should be regulated like pedestrians, as they have the capacity to use sidewalks and other areas where motor vehicles are not allowed.
Tseng said confusion remains as to whether a bicycle should be perceived as simply another slow-moving vehicle or just another pedestrian.
He said there are safety concerns when bicycles are allowed on regular road lanes like other motor vehicles.
"Even when you have a street wide enough to have a specific lane for bicycles, cyclists will inevitably clash with drivers of motor vehicles at intersections when they make turns," Tseng said.
But defining a bicycle as a pedestrian could generate a new set of issues, he said.
"Being classed as a pedestrian would mean that a bicycle could also travel on sidewalks," he said. "If that is the case, loose regulation [of bicycles] may put pedestrians in danger."
Tseng said that sidewalks are not able to accommodate the need of cyclists either.
Tseng said that dual status would allow local governments to be more flexible when stipulating their own policies about bicycles.
Using Taipei's Zhongxiao E Road as an example, Tseng said the traffic volume dropped sharply following the opening of the Banciao-Nangang MRT line. Later, he said traffic volumes returned to pre-MRT levels.
Tseng said the Taipei City Government could have used that opportunity to design a bicycle route on one of the city's busiest streets.
Tseng said that the new definitions would not require major changes in traffic regulations.
The institute's proposal further sets the goal of making Taiwan a cyclist-friendly environment within the next 10 years.
The institute's director general, Huang Te-chih (黃德治), emphasized that the proposal was made after many rounds of discussions with advocates of cyclists' rights. The MOTC will make the final decision, he said.
Huang said that cities are entitled to make necessary adjustments to suit their particular circumstances.
Huang said MOTC Minister Tsai Duei (
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater