Driving in Taiwan

Hi,

What do you think of the way people drive in Taiwan? How different is it from your home country?

Respecting the road safety rules, driving etiquette such as general courtesy, speed excess… what are the characteristics of the driving style in Taiwan?

Share with us the difficulties one may face when driving in Taiwan: peak hours, road conditions, accident, etc. and your advice to drive safely in the country.

Thank you in advance for participating,

Maximilien

Compared to my home city of NYC, driving in Taiwan would be a breeze.  The only issue is being able to read street signs.

The only rule in Taiwan driving is that there is no rules. people pretty much do whatever they want and park wherever they want. It is probably safer to drive than walk, because it's common for scooters to drive on the sidewalk.

Well, in NYC taxis drive wherever they want, trucks double park and while we may not have scooters driving on sidewalks, we have plenty of delivery guys driving bicycles on sidewalks and so I think that surviving driving in NYC more or less prepares a person for driving just about anywhere and after doing this my entire life, I'm sure that Taiwan would present no real surprises.

And honestly, I've been living here for 4.8 years and I haven't noticed people parking wherever they want and there are signal lights.  As for scooters, they only drive on the sidewalk to find a place to park.

There's one big different about driving in Taiwan compare to any place I had visited. It's the way you go will not the same with way you going back.That's the only obvious thing I have notice since living here.For new comer I think it will give quite confusing to understand the road system

Bidara

On the few visits I had in Taiwan (ie Taipei , Taichung  +Kaoshuing) I noticed that drivers in general are courteous and
law abiding. In Malaysia where I come fm ,it's pretty lawless. Motorbikes are the "wild-animals" on the road. They whizz past you fm the left..right, and in between, whenever they see a gap. To avoid these guys crashing into you (whh happens often) one has tobe extra vigilant ( so that time is not wasted attending to these bozos). Most of the drivers here are also non law-abiding...overtaking on the wrong side ,road-hogging thinking it is their right.In summary if one has spent time in countries such as England and Australia one will certainly notice the stark difference.

When I first moved to Taiwan, I thought that driving here was pure madness.  However, over the years, I started to understand the unspoken rules of the road and now I drive both a car and scooter here [not at the same time, of course  :lol: ].   

It is important to note that people sometimes drive scooters on the wrong side of the road and on sidewalks.  Also, if you hear a horn when the light has turned red or is about to turn red, that is a warning sign that the driver is going to make a mad dash for it.  :o