Are Taipei's Roads Still a 'Living Hell'?

NJB Live (my live-streaming channel): @njblive

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References and Further Reading

Taiwan’s ‘living hell’ traffic is a tourism problem, say critics

Nora Sun 孫穗芬

Taipei requires backseat belts in taxis

Road safety projects announced

Taiwan traffic deaths in 2022 up year on year and highest since 2013

Taiwan sees traffic fatalities rise by 6.4% in first half of 2023

Taiwan’s ‘living hell’ traffic is a tourism problem, say critics

Rear-seat passengers with no seatbelt set to face fines

Is Taiwan a ‘Living Hell for Pedestrians’? | Taiwan Talks EP118

Is Taiwan Really a Living Hell For Pedestrians ?｜台灣是個行人地獄嗎 ? 街訪外國人

Is Taiwan's Traffic Really a 'Living Hell'? | TaiwanPlus News

台湾の運転手が学生を迫害する Taiwan Motorists not giving way to pedestrians.

外媒評行人地獄 台去年交通死亡近3千人

Taiwan Struggles To Upgrade Pedestrian Safety | Taiwan Talks EP170

台湾、歩行者の地獄だ。 Taiwan is living hell for pedestrians.

台灣交通亂到老外心驚驚...　CNN點名宛如「人間煉獄」－民視新聞

CNN report: Taiwan is a living hell for pedestrians. Is that real? Sidewalk is as long as greatwall?

Statistics on death and injury of traffic accidents in counties and cities

台北101阻尼器於20150808蘇迪勒颱風來襲晃動情況

台北101 公仔動畫 (介紹Damper篇)

萬大線施工黑暗期 撤連城路、中正路圍籬恢復右轉車道

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Chapters
0:00 Intro
2:42 Drivers yield now!?
3:39 Sidewalks
4:13 Lanes & narrow streets
7:47 Major roads & avenues
8:52 Xinyi
10:41 Taipei 101
11:28 Changes in Xinyi
12:01 Cycling
14:43 Mopeds
16:55 Traffic
17:49 New MRT lines
19:39 High-speed rail
20:10 The metro
21:59 Zhongshan linear park
22:29 Wanhua
23:28 Nighttime and night markets
24:38 New Taipei City
26:05 Zhonghe
28:05 Concluding thoughts
29:59 Ground News

[edward]

As a Taiwanese, our people always think that car and wide road is the symbol of developed country. In addition, some store owner will refuse to "paint" the sidewalk in front of their store because they think that only car can bring money, not pedestrian. Therefore, it is very difficult to build sidewalk or bus lane in here.

[barryrobbins]

The irony is that Taiwan is a major center of the bicycle industry.

[jeffery]

The CNN report really embarrassed the Taiwanese government. The government is just putting on a show, but in reality, neither the government nor most people care about traffic at all. Because most foreigners stay in Taipei, only Taipei bothers with appearances. Once you step outside of Taipei, you'll see the real hell.

It's ironic, isn't it? When Taiwanese people speak up about traffic, it doesn't make a difference. But when foreigners raise the issue, that's when things start to change.

[Davel]

I ended up in the ER as a pedestrian when working in Taichung in 2017. I got a walk sign, walked across an unobstructed zebra crossing on a single lane road in an orange shirt like in the thumbnail. Suddenly I was up on a windshield of a car that had come up behind me and turned right on red through the crosswalk. The police had the driver's dashcam video and said it was a 'cultural misunderstanding' because I didn't turn around and check for any cars that might turn right on red without slowing, ignore the walk signs, and not notice pedestrians

[makotokase]

外國人：I love Taiwan.
台灣人：『謝謝你喜歡台灣』
外國人：road safety is a problom.
台灣人：『不爽滾去其他國家』

[Ashinle]

It's incredibly stupid how people just accepted motor vehicles causing this much harm and noise when a few years ago none of this existed

[chelinchan]

Taiwanese here. If you're wondering what locals think: Yes, I can confirm it's still a living hell, especially in the south where I live. You're welcome.

[languist]

I was living in Taiwan from August 2023 to June 2024, and it's absolutely true that although the MRT has become such an efficient metro system, it's still a common problem with the traffic congestion during rush hour, and bike lanes are still less prioritised, although it's possible to bike along the Jingmei River just fine.

But yeah, if you walk on the absurdly narrow sidewalks in Taipei, you should be careful when moped drivers suddenly drive behind you and expect to have the privilege to pass by you. Sidewalks in Taipei are absolutely a living hell, cause it's so unpredictable I would say.

[pianomusic]

Great video! As a Taiwanese citizen I can tell you that Taiwan will likely still be a pedestrian hell after 10 years. The amount of drivers complaining about how pedestrians often crossed the zebra lines "too slowly" and should "grow some mutual respect to car drivers" is just surprising. Additionally, anywhere outside Taipei (maybe plus a few more special municipality cities) is pretty much the same scene you experienced in the New Taipei City. We desperately need better designed city that focuses on pedestrians, bikes and public transits.

[faustourrutia]

3:35 The trash truck music is still the same, it just varies between districts. For example, some of Taipei City districts play Fur Elise and some the old sound, while most of New Taipei's districts still play the old sound.

[MarcoGPUtuber]

I also want to mention the bike paths, if they exist, are so terribly built that there are places where you will run into a concrete wall head first. They even removed a sidewalk so scooters can hook turn, forcing you to walk around it.

[Mason_van_Bike]

I’m a Canadian living in Japan. The lack of tree coverage here is absolutely insane. Especially as the summers get hotter, it’s just awful. Not only that, but the lack of shade means that the cities just hold onto the heat all night.

The worst is when they plant trees but then cut them so aggressively that they provide no shade whatsoever. 😊

[kalebbruwer]

10:38 There's an old, running joke in the car community that Audi's idea of advertising is to park an Audi in the way of something, so I just burst out laughing at this!

[STDMT]

Bro Taichung has the worst pedestrian infrastructure in all of Taiwan because it doesn't exist.. A walking trip to Fengchia Market almost cost me my life smh

[aurionson]

Visiting Taiwan as a reckless twenty something, it was so fun driving a moped everywhere. But cities shouldn't be designed solely around reckless twenty somethings.

[ZlligillZ]

It's nice to watch a video where I know and have walked where the B roll is shot. Traffic is easily the worst part of living in Taiwan. Pedestrian Hell is no joke, it's a shame you didn't have time to cover other cities. The more southern you go, the crazier.

[EvaristeWK]

I go to Taiwan often. Next time your should visit Taichung, it's the most car dependent city on the island in my opinion. It was a lot worse than Taipei

[MrFreeman]

The fact that Taipei has exhausted options for increasing walkability without affecting cars reminds me a lot of Rome in Italy, where significant progress has been made for improving cycling and walkability in these past years but always in ways that would marginally inconvenience driving. It would be very very interesting to cover Rome in the future.

[chiachingchang]

Taiwanese here 🙋‍♂️ As mentioned in the video, transportation in Taiwan has indeed improved in recent years. However, due to legal reasons, our traffic planning is managed by different government agencies. For example, the introduction of green-painted pedestrian pathways is due to the fact that the agency responsible for creating physical sidewalks and the agency in charge of road design are different. Therefore, legal regulations will be one of the key factors for future advancements in Taiwan's transportation.

BTW your Mandarin is gooood🔥

[kerryhung]

我希望你的影片破百萬點閱率，這樣我們的政府才會做事，謝謝你幫我們宣傳，我們忍很久了, 台灣人只是要人行道！！這很難嗎政府！！？謝謝