It would be hard to imagine a cycling event with men, women, children and the elderly walking on the race track with competitors whizzing by, yet this is precisely what happens in Taipei’s riverside parks.
Because the parks’ paths are emblazoned with cycle lane markings, pedestrians have been left with no option but to share the cycle lanes with two-wheelers. Consequently, walking through the parks is a hazardous affair, as most cyclists race along at terrific speed.
A friend recently went for an evening stroll around the No. 9 floodgate. A cyclist rammed into my friend, and although the cyclist slammed on the brakes, my friend fell over and was crushed under a wheel while her head smashed into the tarmac. At the time of this writing, my friend has yet to regain consciousness.
Recently, a relative was also involved in a bicycle accident. Since the Taipei City Government is promoting a flower festival at Guting Riverside Park, we went there to take a look. A child on a bike careened into my relative, who fell flat on their back, tailbone hitting the ground hard, badly grazing their left hand, while the back of their head struck the asphalt.
For two or three minutes, my relative was in great pain and could not get up, and later had to see a doctor because of the pain in their tailbone.
What kind of park is this? According to the Taipei City Public Park Management Self-Governing Regulations (台北市公園管理自治條例), riding bicycles in parks is not allowed. Are riverside parks not considered parks? Given the dangerous situation, the parks might as well go ahead and erect signs saying: “Cycling and sports park, pedestrians keep out.”
The flower festival will continue until the Lunar New Year: Visitors on foot should exercise extreme caution.
Ordinary parks are just as bad. Even worse, the Taipei City Government is continually increasing the number of YouBikes. The docking stations at the entrance to parks are usually empty, with the bikes all having been taken inside the park. When an accident occurs, officials say the matter is beyond their control and that they cannot issue fines.
Occasionally a civil dispute resolution occurs, with the injured party demanding NT$1 million (US$32,784) or more in compensation, leaving the other party, perhaps the mother of a child, utterly astounded.
Readers might be interested to know that in 2013 in Japan, the mother of an elementary-school student who collided with an elderly woman, leaving her in a coma, was given a fine of ￥95 million (US$875,900 at the current exchange rate).
In Taiwan, fines for traffic-related offenses are too low, the laws are often not enforced and there is insufficient infrastructure. As a result, traffic conditions are chaotic, and drunk driving and speeding cannot be prevented.
At the most basic level, infrastructure, such as the design of paths and walkways in the riverside parks, is poorly thought out.
Compare this with New York’s Central Park, which boasts 10km of cycle paths, but which are confined to the outer perimeter of the park and are strictly one-way, which means that collisions are far less likely. If a cyclist wants to visit a scenic spot within the park, they can dismount at the outer cycle path and then walk by foot, pushing their bike along the inner pedestrian-only paths.
If pedestrians are not to be excluded from riverside parks, there must be separate cycle and pedestrian paths, otherwise it will not be long before injured parties begin to claim compensation from park management.
Lu Ching-fu is a professor in Fu Jen Catholic University’s applied arts department.
Translated by Edward Jones
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