The 45 Minute Ulcer

What's driving like? Well, nothing static can convey the reality of a Taiwan road. But today I took a shot at it, recording a trip from home to the university. It started out in fine style. As I sat in the middle lane, the car in front of the yellow truck turned right from the center lane, and was followed by the truck, which also turned right, halting traffic in both lanes. It was turning onto a very wide two lane road, so there was no excuse. But -- it's a refrain -- stuff like this is normal here in Taiwan.

Moments later, as I approach a red light, I mark a scooter going the wrong way, in the opposite lane, weaving in between those scooter which, by some accident of history, are actually going the right way. Moments later -- next frame -- he shoots through the red light as though he were immortal. Here in Taichung, a succession of mayors from both major parties has done zilch for our fair city's traffic

Another traffic hazard: since there are no sidewalks in this section, the foot traffic walks in the street. It has to walk out among the vehicles to avoid the market that occupies what should be parking spaces.

Foot traffic walks in the street even where there are sidewalks.

Red lights? The Taiwanese will tell you that red lights are "for reference." Consequently, a constant hazard outside of a few heavily camera'd areas are scooters running red lights.

Here's another hazard -- as vehicles park or move off to the right to turn, scooters shoot out into the road to go around them.

The scooter circled here is actually stopped waiting for the light. Another problem with scooters is that they will often stop far into the intersection, forcing other traffic to move around them. Car drivers are bad, but it is the scooters that make Taiwan roads the miserable crapshoot that they are.

Inside the circle is "the dragon," as a local blogger named it. At heavily trafficked intersections like this one, when the light changes, the left turning cars form a line and block the oncoming traffic as they turn left, each car leaving the left turn lane successively earlier. The result is a long chain of vehicles like a Chinese dragon.

In addition to the chain of left turning vehicles, a hazard at every intersection of even middling size is that vehicles use the scooter and parking lanes as an unofficial second lane, meaning that when the light changes, two lanes worth of vehicles race to cram themselves into one lane. We'll see that several times in our morning trip.

Still not out of the intersection, but more traffic threats follow. The last of the left turning cars just clears the oncoming traffic, when a heavily-laden truck makes an illegal right on red and attempts to shove its way into traffic.

It is hard to see, but this intersection has only one lane. Typically, because of the wide shoulder, three lanes form -- one right turn lane and two lanes going straight, which attempt to cram themselves into one lane in a free for all.

As I contemplate the mess in front, the truck that just made the illegal right turn passes me and the car in front of me at high speed and darts into the line of traffic. Just ahead two lanes of cars are shoehorning themselves into one lane. People who pass the traffic illegally on the right and then cut in are usually let in. Not only is it polite to permit others to impose on onself in local culture, the kind of driver that speeds past everyone on the road and then cuts in dangerously is generally the kind of person who has little compunction about kicking the shit out of anyone who kicks up a fuss.

Note the two cars driving illegally in the motorcycle lane, pushing the poor biker to speed up. Passing on the right is a serious problem here, resulting in many deaths. Taiwan's traffic death rate is three times that of Los Angeles.

This intersection is always a hotbed of fun driving. As I come to stop in front of the red light, a scooter shoots out ahead of me hoping to cross the intersection before the cars come out as the light changes. Usually they make it.

These little electric vehicles are actually illegal now. Not that anyone ever gets stopped or anything.

But we're not finished here as this truck driver runs the red. There is nothing unusual about today, just another typical traffic day.

Still not done -- as the light turn greens, a scooter driver shoots the intersection, hoping to get across before the cars get out into the intersection. Usually they make it.

Left turns. As the light turns green, the scooter drivers make the quick left, forcing traffic in the opposite direction to halt as they thread their way through the scooters emerging into the road. Usually they make it.

Here's another fun issue, if you're in the opposite lane: scooter drivers who can't be bothered to wait for the light or to slip beside the vehicles prefer to drive down the opposite lane to pass the line of cars waiting for the red light. If you make a right turn in here you've got a good change of nailing this idiot. He was followed by two others.

As the light changes, crossing traffic at this major road junction still hasn't cleared the intersection. Everyone who drives this road regularly knows what the traffic is like here, so cars are not surging into the street, because....

Yes! A large truck completely disregards the red lights and the traffic in the intersection and crosses the street against a red before the crossing traffic can claim the intersection. In the morning there are sometimes four policemen directing morning traffic here.

Here construction has eliminated one lane, so two lanes combine into one. The result? Chaos.

Another common hazard: people selling things by accosting drivers. Flower sellers, real estate advertisers, Mormons....just about everybody selling something can be found selling it in the road.

Another hazard: why build a parking lot when you can just use the street? Here a parked truck blocks part of the road, and everyone must go around.

In the finest local style, this scooter driver shoots out from a side street against the light, and proceeds to thread his way between the two left turning vehicles.

But we're not done, as yet another scooter runs the red light. This woman waited until we had begun to move out into traffic before she decided to cross the street. When you consider that Taichung doesn't even have the island's worst traffic -- opinion appears to be divided between Tainan and Kaohsiung on that score -- it is a wonder that everyone in Taiwan doesn't suffer from intestinal disorders.

College students are notoriously poor scooter drivers. Here two students turn onto the university road by making illegal left turns on red. Usually they make it. T-intersections are particularly bad for scooter infractions

My favorite: as I make the left, one -- no two -- no, make that three scooters pass me on the left as I am turning left. Safety? It is not my fate to die in an accident on the road.....

[Taiwan]

How dangerous is it to drive on the Beautiful Isle?

When I was in LA last week I had occasion to consult the traffic fatality data for Los Angeles County (available on the NHTSA website). Last month, the Taipei Times reported:

As a result of the measure, however, the bureau said that although traffic citations had decreased from an average of 20 million per year before 2005 down to 10 million per year in 2005, deaths caused by traffic accidents had risen from 4,322 in 2002 to 4,735 in 2005.

The death toll was projected to reach to 5,000 last year.

The nation's death rate resulting from traffic incidents is higher than that of the US and Japan, the bureau said.

While about 21 individuals per 100,000 people died in traffic accidents in Taiwan last year, the number was about 15 in the US and seven in Japan.

The US figure is 14.66 per hundred thousand, for Taiwan it is 21, and for LA county? It's a piddling 7.55, or about one-third of the figure in Taiwan. Sadly, the government pledged a decade ago to reduce the death rate to under 9 per hundred thousand....

Naturally, though, things are not that simple. Facts are constructions of methodologies, and each country has its own. How does Taiwan stack up? The problem may be illustrated by this comment in a New Zealand government report from September of last year:

While ascertainment and recording of road traffic deaths is high in countries like New Zealand, there is still country to country variation in completeness of reporting, and some definitions, as outlined in the previous report. These include the time period following the crash in which deaths must occur in order to be counted as traffic deaths. The standard is now 30 days, but it is not universally applied, even in neighbouring countries. A traffic fatality in Spain, Greece and Portugal is one that occurs in the first 24 hours, in France 6 days and in Italy 7 days. Variation also occurs in whether crashes on private roads are included, and whether confirmed suicides or natural deaths are included. There has been considerable improvement in standardisation of these measures in the past decade in IRTAD member countries.

This problem is a common one anytime mortality rates are discussed. For example, the US is often pummeled for having high infant mortality rates, but if you look up the country-by-country definition, in some countries, even advanced ones, it isn't counted as an infant until it has been out of the mother for 24 hours. You can do wonders for your mortality statistics if you don't count the babies who die in the first 24 hours as being born. For traffic fatalities, the US uses the thirty day standard. Taiwan, according to what I have been able to dredge up, uses two different definitions, one by the Dept. of Health, the other from the police (ten year old data) who use a 24 hour standard. Consequently, the DOH reports twice as many fatalities as the police do. Since so many accidents are not reported to the police, some adjustment for undercounting must be made. I cannot find any data on how suicides are accounted for, or whether pedestrians killed on sidewalks in Taiwan by motorcycles are counted.

To expand on some comments I made over in the realm of Roy on a post on driving, when I was in LA, I walked all the way up Santa Monica Blvd, save a section by bus, from Ocean Ave, and cut over to Wilshire and back to UCLA, a couple of hours in all (one of my favorite things to do is to walk all the way across a city taking pictures). Perhaps LA drivers were not on their game that day, but not once did I see a red light run. Not once did I see anyone make an illegal turn on left. Not once did I saw drivers continue to make left turns after the light changed or rush into the intersection in the time both lights were red, or run the red light while the left turn signal was green but the straight signal was red. Nobody ran the length of a line of cars waiting to make a left to line up in front. Nobody was committing traffic infractions in front of a policeman, an event I have video'd and photo'd many times in Taiwan (I did see cops pull cars over twice for infractions). At the entrance ramp for the 405 expressway in front of the Federal Building on Wilshire, though the traffic had backed up onto Wilshire, I saw no cars attempting to run the length of the line of waiting vehicles and push their way in at the exit, which is par for the course in Taiwan -- though I stood there for several minutes watching for just that. Instead, people patiently lined up and waited. The traffic flowed. Tellingly, at rush hour in LA it was not necessary to have the police physically directing traffic at intersections.

I'm sure veteran LA drivers have seen all those things once or twice. But you don't see them day in and day out in LA, like you would in Taiwan.

I was thinking about this as I was waiting to make a left today, and the driver behind me, impatient, attempted to make a blind left turn on the inside of my left. We long-term expats have gotten so used to living in Taiwan that we've become habituated to it, and the differences between Taiwan and a country where the traffic is well regulated and drivers have internalized civic culture are harder for us to see. Laugh though we may, in some ways it's the indignant letter-to-the-editor-writing newbies who might have a better handle on how things stack up between Over Here and Over There.

[Taiwan] [US] [drivers] [traffic] [Los Angeles]