There is a great disparity between the opinions of drivers and pedestrians over yielding behavior at intersections, the results of a poll commissioned by the New Power Party (NPP) showed.
More than 80 percent of drivers said that they yield to pedestrians, but 70 percent of pedestrians said they “rarely” or “very seldom” have drivers yield to them, the NPP said in a report on Monday.
The results reflect how unsafe people feel while walking in Taiwan compared with how drivers and scooter riders view their behavior on the road, NPP Chairwoman Claire Wang (王婉諭) told a news conference yesterday.
Photo: CNA
The creator of the Poem of Biker (通勤者之歌) YouTube channel, Evan Yang (楊博捷), told the news conference that the polar opposite opinions of drivers and pedestrians over yielding lies in the difference of perspective when drivers follow the “three stripes” guideline, which is that vehicles should allow pedestrians space equivalent to three stripes on a pedestrian crossing.
The distance is less than the length of some vehicles, and pedestrians often feel it is too close, Yang said.
Thirty percent of respondents said that the ideal would be for vehicles to maintain distance until pedestrians have finished crossing,” NPP member and Vision Zero convener Lin Po-hsun (林伯勛) said.
The poll showed that 24.37 percent of respondents believed drivers should be respectful of people who are still crossing when the green light for pedestrians ends.
More than 70 percent said that pedestrian safety should take priority even if it causes traffic to back up, Lin said.
The survey showed that more than 44.89 percent of people ride scooters or bicycles onto pedestrian areas to find parking, while 28.94 percent would never do so, Wang said.
Many scooter parking spots are on sidewalks and some walkways do not ban scooters entirely, which is the main reason that vehicles and pedestrians share space, she said, adding that the government should address the issue.
Taipei has the lowest rate of scooters on sidewalks in the country, likely due to policies to bar them from accessing walkways, she said.
The NPP commissioned Pearson Data Inc to conduct the poll, which distributed forms online from July 24 to Aug. 6.
The survey garnered 10,733 valid responses and has a margin of error of 0.95 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent.
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