Driving in Taiwan is chaotic

Drivers of cars own the road, and pedestrians have to watch out for themselves. There is a pecking order on the streets. Drivers of vehicles are king; next come moped-scooter drivers; then pedestrians. They are definitely nothing like drivers in Canada. In Canada, the drivers are much more considerate and law-abiding. If I drove a car here, I'd probably get into an accident within my first week of driving. I don't know if I could ever get used to driving here. It is not a very safe place to let your kid roam the streets. Navigating through the streets in Taiwan is not easy. It makes driving in New York City seem more civilized. I had my first experience riding a scooter or mini-motorcycle on a busier street. It was a scary experience. I feel like a car could run me over any time. The drivers here are not nice drivers. I have seen Taiwan drivers take the most daring moves on busy streets. Pedestrians do not have the right-of-way, not even on university campuses. Here in Taiwan, the drivers kind of do whatever they want. It's so scary that it would make most Canadian drivers pull over and hail a taxi. I have learned that as a pedestrian, one must not make any sudden move because it might confuse the drivers. Car and moped drivers know how to "safely" manouver around a pedestrian within a few inches of coming in contact with them. People who grow up here don't seem to mind when moped or car drivers come within inches of hitting them. Pedestrians don't get freaked out when this happens. They just continue walking like it is supposed to be normal. They just simply continue on their way as if this chaos was normal. It surprises me how people are able to survive in this chaotic environment.

It doesn't seem like the traffic police are doing their job at enforcing the law here. There doesn't seem to be very many police on the road. Even if there were enough traffic police, I'm not sure if they actually enforce the law here. But according to a government press release, Taiwanese people are tops in the world in the number of traffic tickets issued. Taiwan has a big job to do to try to correct its own bad driving habits. Everyday I'm on the road whether as a moped driver or a pedestrian, I wonder if I am going to get hit or runover by a moving object. I hope that I can leave Taiwan accident-free. Everyday, I hear an ambulance on the streets. I would not be surprised if at least half of these hospital emergencies are traffic related. Someone who works at Changhua Christian Hospital tells me that there are 100 emergency beds in the hospital. There are five hospitals in Changhua. That is a lot compared to most Canadian hospitals. In a comparable sized city in Canada, Saskatoon only has three hospitals but nowhere near 100 emergency beds. I wouldn't be surprised if most of these emergency beds are taken up by patients in traffic accidents.

Thus far, I've only talked about what I don't like about Taiwan's traffic. But there is something I do like. Taiwan has traffic lights showing a green man walking which indicate "Go." This is pretty cool. It's better than a stationary figure. Taiwan also has a countdown that shows how many seconds are left before the light changes. This is a really smart idea because it helps to relieve some of the people's anxiety and impatience as they wait for the light to change.