The Taiwanese Riders of the Apocalypse

In Taiwan, a country where space is at a premium, transportation is not taken lightly. The country has a state owned rail system and a state owned public bus system. Taxis are very common, and many citizens own cars. But when it gets to vehicles per head of people, motorcycles and scooters are the highest.

Many countries rely on scooters as a cheap means of private transportation. But it is only in Taiwan that they are taken to the extreme. If Taiwan is a vision of Mainland China, where the bicycles have been replaced by scooters, then it is a nightmare. Everyone, young and old, seems to have one at their disposal, whether it be to nip down to the local convenience store or to go to work. For those too young to drive, there is the learning period of a bicycle, though apparently, from my own observations, many children do not wait long enough.

Of course, as with everything in Taiwan, there are the official rules and laws. Official, certainly, but often not followed.

Only until recently, has there been a law to make the wearing of motorcycle helmets compulsory. The government ran newspaper advertisements, poster campaigns and television commercials. They imposed a NT$500 fine (About US$15, UK?G10) for each and every rider and passenger caught without an approved and suitable helmet. That was two years ago, and apart from in the major cities, still more then one in eight riders and passengers go around without wearing a helmet (Many carry them for when they get too close to the center of town.)

Some Taiwanese, who grudgingly abide the law, somehow lack a full understanding of the idea of 'approved' and 'suitable' when it comes to wearing a helmet. Rumor has it, though it smells strongly of being an urban myth, that an old couple, deciding that they had to following the law and wear some head protection, hollowed out two halves of a water melon and wore the husks. Other variations on helmets are numerous. Work site safety helmets are a popular choice of head gear. As are bicycle helmets. And helmets for children seem to miss the point as they are often way to big. I suppose that is so they can grow into them if they get old. A bucket might be better protection for them, or it would at least be a little bit more convenient to hold their brains in.

Fashion also has a lot to answer for the reluctance to wear a helmet. When I asked some students for some disadvantages to wearing a helmet, one of the first replies was that they made your head sweaty and ruined your hair style. Some riders forced to wear a helmet, try to retain their street creditability by usually leaving the chin strap slack and pushing the helmet far back on their heads, though this is generally only for open face helmets. I am sure though, there are a few riders who will try the same with the closed faced versions. Another favorite is the World War II German Army style of helmet, often stenciled with a replica Swastika or SS insignia; crassness never gets in the way of Taiwanese style.

The reasons for such a variety of headwear and lack of protection comes from a number of sources. It would be cynical to assume that it was because a large number of the population is stupid. My home country is no more intelligent than Taiwan, but there everyone follows the law to the letter. The reason must come down to a belief it does not matter and a lack of fear about being caught and the consequences.

In the new year (1999), there will be another test of the Taiwanese public's willingness to follow or flaunt the law. The Government has announced that insurance will be mandatory for having a motorcycle, failure to have up-to-date insurance was originally set at about NT$20,000. In recent weeks, that fine has been drastically lowered to about NT$5,000. If the fine had been left at its original level, I feel everyone would have gotten insurance. As it stands with the low fine, I feel the average Taiwanese bad driver will take the gamble of not being caught.

At this point, I feel I should make you aware of a regulation that is generally observed Island wide. It is the restriction of all motorcycles and scooters to a maximum engine capacity of 125cc. This is a restriction that has been law for so long, that it is impossible to have a bike that predates the law and therefore is exempt. I have heard that visitors can bring in bikes that are over 125cc for limited periods, but I have not seen any. I do not know why the law is there. I have two hunches though. One is that the government wanted to protect its national manufactures from outside competition. The other is that the government realized a long-time ago that there was no likelihood that the road infrastructure in the country was going to be safe for large bikes. Therefore, they decided to stop the slaughter of cyclists on the roads by making sure they did not have the machines to do it on.

The shortcoming of having puny machines to drive around on has not curbed the inner desire to be a bit of an easyrider. Bikes can be classified under four categories: One, working bikes, standard 125's, used by farmers and men who deliver three and a half foot tall butane gas bottles; sometimes two at a time, laid across the back in special purpose carriers. Two, suedo-hogs, 125cc low-riders that try to imitate Harley Davisons. Three, sport bikes, which look as out of place as a nun at a rave. And Four, scooters, which are the mainstay of the two wheel drivers.

Scooters are everywhere in Taiwan. On every road, on every sidewalk, in every house, in every ditch and also in every fish pond. Taiwan moves on scooters, its roads echo to the blare of their whinny little motors and every place is accessed by them. They come in a plethora of designs and sizes, and even then they are often supped up by youths trying to instill some individuality on the machines, and make-up for the inadequacy of the engine's size.

The scooter's compact size makes it ideally suited for getting into every nook and cranny of Taiwan. They are thus well suited in Taiwan's overcrowded cities, they line all the streets and competition for space is so fierce that a lot of the bikes are illegally parked. Riders are often not too concerned about being fined. In Taiwan, all that happens is a flat-bed truck will pickup your bike and take it away to a local pound. The fine for the return of your bike is about NT$700 (About US$30, UK?G12), more than the fine for being caught not wearing a helmet. It is a hassle, as you usually have to take a taxi to the pound, which are on the outskirts of the cities, so not cheap either. So with the hassle and the fine, why are cyclists not more concerned? Two reasons: the first, is the idea that it will not happen to them, and the second, is that there are so many illegally parked bikes, that there is only a small chance that you will get caught. Also a lot of the bikes get themselves into places the trucks cannot reach, namely the sidewalks and pedestrian ways.

Scooters are also very useful for the low-budget family. Three to a bike seems to push the passenger limit, but I regularly see families of four on scooters, Ma, Pa and two children. Or another popular combination is an eight-month pregnant mother and two of its siblings. Think of a combination of four family members on a bike and you will see it in Taiwan if you spend enough time here. By-the-way, shops sell helmets for infants, but not for those as young as one. Babies are strapped to the back and possibly counts as OK if the carrying adult has a helmet.

People will use scooters as a crutch for their laziness. Markets are very noisy and crowded places, people jostle for space and move slowly past the stalls. This does not stop the intrepid scooterist, they will jostle with the rest of them, nosing their way through the throng. It seems that the idea of parking your bike, walking around, purchasing the goods you want and going back to your bike, is too difficult an exertion. Better to move at a snails pace and clog up the gangways. One market I have been to, located under a high-rise apartment block, come business center, it is a wet market selling fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh poultry (some so fresh it has not stopped jerking) and fresh vegetables. The Chinese pride themselves on the idea that only fresh produce should be eaten, everything else is too old. The idea that it has been smoked in the fumes of passing scooters does not upset anyone. Yes, the underground market, in its closed and confined space, still has access ramps to allow scooters to push their ways through the people, putt-putting their oily exhausts as they go.

Returning briefly to riding apparel. I might add that most well dressed motorcyclists would not be seen dead, or unconscious and bleeding under the tires of a truck, not wearing flip-flops or some other unsubstantial footwear. A large number seem to take pride in wearing ankle bandages or sporting great pink blotches of iodine on their legs.

Taiwanese motorcycle antics are not constrained to how much they can get in your way. I have seen a motorcyclist tow his friend's motorcycle. This seems a bit fool-hardly by itself, but to make it extra interesting for his friend, he took a left fork at a traffic-light controlled junction, crossing the on-coming traffic while the red light was against him. I would not have been happy to have been his friend. Another entertainment, is seeing what people will try to get on to their motorcycle or scooter. Long lancing poles and cumbersome boxes are high on the list.

Age is not a factor in choosing to be a motorcyclist. As I have previously mentioned many an underage motorist has chosen to drive in the face of the law. Many, I assume, feel they can easily pass for someone over the age limit. I feel some twelve-year olds have too high a self-image. The other end of the spectrum has the doddering old individuals, who have shrunken in stature but ride around on some of the biggest scooters going. Possible they feel riding such a powerful, limited to 125cc remember, bike makes them look youthful and one of the hip crowd. Well, they will certainly end up one of the hip replacement crowd if they are not too careful. I must admit though, they sometimes have a youthful, wrinkle free image when I see them. But this is due to the fact that they have invariably just started up the bike, and when they touched the throttle, it shot away so quickly that the G-force pulled their wizened countenances taut.

I have also decided that male scooter drivers can be classified by the way they like to sit on their scooters. I have broken them down into four groups.

Boy racers - knees together, leaning forward, elbows in, head jutted forward and mouth open with teeth clenched. A lot of unnecessary swerving and sharp throttling goes on with this kind of driver, plus a lot of bug catching if you get my drift.

Rebels without a care - cigarette in mouth, right hand on the throttle, left hand in jacket pocket, one foot on the foot board and the other across the knee. Tries not to stop at junctions, as this will cause them to break their pose, and only removes hand to either replace their cigarette or pop a betel nut in their mouth (Will spit on the move, see 'letter one' for more on Betel nut.)

Something is wrong below the belt - this driver has both hands on the handle bar and both feet on the foot board. The only strange thing is they sit as far forward as they can on the seat and hold both knees out as wide as possible, as if they are training to be Sumo wrestlers.

The dangly foot brigade - this style of driving is favored by the old and the flip-flop wearing fraternity, who possible think that ten toes are too many. As the name suggests they drive around, both feet draped on either side of the bike and hanging a few centimeters off the tarmac.

I have tried not to touch on how motorcyclists drive in Taiwan, I wrote about that in my previous letter, 'letter three - Taiwanese Roulette.' If you are interested in how I get around, well I have a scooter of my own, I religiously wear a helmet and I have my own style of driving. Just do not get in my way if you ever drive here.