I’ve often wondered how the roads of Taiwan function. Bad driving Asian stereotypes are nothing new but it’s not until you actually mix it up with Asian traffic that you develop a whole new appreciation for it.

Confidence on Taiwan’s roads seems to be a massive problem. People will seriously half pull out of a car park and then seem to hit a ‘oh crap what do I do now?!’ mental stumbling block.

If you’re coming up behind them you’re then stuck as they’ve taken up too much of the lane for you to pass… but they’re worried you won’t stop. I’ve lost count the amount of times, even on a bicycle, that I’ve wanted to get out of the car and kick someone in the nuts. If for nothing else then just to give them a shot of confidence to pull out confidently and get what should take no more then two seconds over with.

I’ve seriously seen cars have stand offs where, regardless of who has right of way, neither party is willing to budge either out of politeness or losing face. Meanwhile the traffic backs up and everyone else is cracking the shits.

Then there’s the ‘if I’m bigger then you, you better get the hell out of my way’ attitude that exists here. Truck and bus drivers are no more confident then the rest of the drivers on the roads, they just know that if someone smashes into them they will come off second best.

As a result they don’t give a shit you were doing 60km/h down a one lane road. If they want to join the lane you’re going to stop for them whether you like it or not.

Due to the sheer universal prevalence of bad driving in Taiwan I started to wonder just what the hell was taught in Asian driving schools.

One cloudy Saturday morning I was on a cycle ride and found out…

I passed what I assume is a driving school and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up and shoot a video of. The origin of the complete lack of confidence that can be witnessed across roads all over Taiwan was suddenly made clear.


The gate was locked so I couldn’t walk in but watching the learner drivers at the school was like stepping into Matrix bullet time. Despite the massive open spaces everything just crawled along.

Had driving behaviour on the roads not mirrored what I was seeing at the school I’d be tempted to write off the experience as just a bad batch of drivers that morning. Letting people learn how to drive at 3 km/h on their own seems like a ridiculous way to get started.

I’m convinced the Taiwan drivers license test is probably just a quick quiz on which cartoon character stickers look better on what color car. There’s certainly not a practical driving component otherwise nobody would be on the roads!

The truck drivers license is probably equally as pointless. The practical component is probably a demo on how well you can chew betel nut and spit out the juice without getting any on your chin.

That seems to be the only requirement for driving stupid blue trucks on the roads here.

As an aside, anyone got any ideas what the massive solar panel looking boards are on top of the cars? Every car had one. Solar power would explain the speed the cars were travelling at but does seem technologically excessive for learner driver cars.


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1. Memo to MOFA: Taiwanese drivers are morons