The Taiwanese are the BEST Drivers in the World

[Belgian Pie]

Just two days ago while walking the dogs, this old guy came from the opposite direction on a bicycle ... left eye gone, right eye about 20% vision I guess ... he had to slow down, stop almost and was figuring out which way to go passing me ... left or right ... he choose the middle of the river path. and imagine, the path is only for pedestrians and bikes ... how lucky he is to be alive, riding on the road in the middle of traffic.

[lovedavdubs]

I caught another gem with my trusty dash cam this morning
Not exactly on topic but...
http://youtu.be/EQ87lBA8lx0?hd=1

[Belgian Pie]

I caught another gem with my trusty dash cam this morning
Not exactly on topic but...
http://youtu.be/EQ87lBA8lx0?hd=1

You post a link that says it's private and we should contact you ...

[lovedavdubs]

Oops. Just fixed it. Sorry bout that.

[Bubba 2 Guns]

The Guy in the SUV "Taiwaned" her.

"to Taiwan" someone, is to cut someone off and purposely endanger someone's life because your vehicle is larger than theirs therefore making you more important.


http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c7b_1334595768

[tommy525]

I always say, stay off scoots and motorcycles because you have no protection against idiots. I wonder if she died or just got knocked out cold.

She really shouldnt have been riding that fast too. To ride a scooter you have to be ready for people to cut you off right and left. Ride slow and keep all your wits about you.

The guy came to check on her and then went off somewhere, hopefully not taking off.

One can only hope she made it ok.

[finley]

The guy came to check on her and then went off somewhere, hopefully not taking off.

I dunno. That looked to me like an "oh fuck, I think I'm going to throw up" rapid retreat. Notice how initially he just saunters over like he's just clipped someone's bumper.

Totally avoidable though. People do stuff like that all the time. Indicating doesn't mean "I intend to turn left". It means "GTFOOMW, coming through". She was riding WAY too fast (50-60kph, if you measure against parking spaces) and most likely not looking where she was going. She appeared to make no attempt to swerve or slow down despite having a second or two of thinking time. Classic Taiwan accident: everybody's fault.

[Original Ian]

Nice one! http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=425_1337095227

[finley]

haha ... brilliant. Overtaking on the hard shoulder when the hard shoulder is already full of queue-jumpers! The policemen mincing over like Danny La Rue is a nice touch.

[Johnnz]

I do not know if this is the right thread for such comparisons, sorry if it is off topic, but I recently found some interesting info about driving habits in Hawaii. For example:

"I have lived here for 6 years and I STILL can't understand why they do the things they do.
Here are the worst offenses:
- driving in the left lane next to the vehicle in the right and REFUSING to let anyone else past
- not driving a consistent speed -- speed way up, slow way down making it hard to follow behind
- swerving into your lane right in front of you and then going 10 mph or more less than you forcing you to slam on brakes
- no lane change signals
- refusing to let you change lanes when you signal you want to change lanes
- accelerating rapidly when you try to get around and then slowing way down when they have blocked you from passing
- getting enraged when you do manage to get around them

For an island that prides itself on the concept of "Aloha", these people are absolute A$$holes when they get behind the wheel. Unfortunately, I have to drive 64 miles R/T 5 days a week and I have grown to despise driving here. I can't wait to get off this island!"

"Interesting is not the only word I can use to describe the barrage of things people do here while driving or the way they drive on the streets. We've experienced people cutting into our lane from the opposite direction to drive into a driveway in traffic. We've experienced a few cars all going in different directions on the same road (no it's not in the countryside, this is a few blocks from Waikiki) because they were stuck in traffic. Yesterday, we saw someone back up about 200 ft along a street with traffic coming -- I thought he had missed the on ramp to the freeway -- and then make a U turn. However, this one really takes the cake.... I saw someone painting their nails while driving in traffic. Every time the traffic would move she'd inch forward and when it stopped, she'd paint a nail, blow on it and then proceed again. Now THAT was truly interesting to see. Yes, Hawaii is filled with such interesting characters and I'm sure there will be more to report on as time goes by.

UPDATE: Saw someone studying while driving today. I thought she was studying as she was reading some help manual of some sort (definitely was not a novel). We thought she was making very constructive use of time!"

That was from - http://www.yelp.com/biz/hawaii-drivers-honolulu
Regarding scooters, cutting corners on mountain roads, right-of-way and "blue trucks" - http://users.isp.com/keoni/hawaiidg/rightway.html
Google search has more examples if you are interested but the main idea is the same.

I have not been to Hawaii (yet) and understand that those reviews and comments might be just exaggerations by the "mainland" US folks but they sound quite similar to Taiwan driving experiences. Maybe it is just some universal "tropical island thing" ?