Late last year, CNN Travel reported that Taiwan, a country renowned for its hospitality, sees many incidents of pedestrians being hit by vehicles that fail to give way at crosswalks, including many leading to injury or death.
CNN even called Taiwan a “living hell” for pedestrians. The term has resonated with the Taiwanese media and people, becoming a buzzword.
Faced with a “living hell” for pedestrians, the public expects the government to propose solutions to the problem.
The government can show its determination by outfitting more intersections with technology to discipline drivers who fail to give way to pedestrians, allowing the public to report unsafe driving and deploying more police officers to issue tickets for illegal parking.
Surprisingly, newly inaugurated Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) became the first local government head to address the issue when he announced that all motorcycles must immediately be removed from the city’s sidewalks.
He also said his administration would remove parking spaces for scooters that partly block the sidewalks along major roads in central Taipei, such as Dunhua N Road and Renai Road sections 1 and 2.
As a descendant of a notable family, Chiang perhaps does not need a motorcycle to get around Taipei and worry about parking. Maybe this is why he does not fully understand the importance of parking spaces for people who commute to work in central Taipei by scooter.
Authorities have for years allowed scooters to park on designated spaces at the edge of sidewalks. Most people who park on those spaces turn off the engine of their scooter before pushing it onto the sidewalk. The risk that they harm pedestrians is slim.
As Taipei is tackling the “living hell” for pedestrians, it unfortunately stigmatizes all motorcyclists. It is the wrong solution to a pressing problem, and it shows that the Chiang administration needs to work harder to draft its policies.
Fan Shuo-ming is a senior administrative specialist at National Chengchi University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS