Catherine over at shu flies had a great post a while back about one of her blogging pet peeves – people who generalize and stereotype about every Taiwanese person based on the actions of a few. This also happens to be one of my pet peeves and something that I, being a foreigner, have to deal with every now and then. That is to say, as a foreigner, it’s easy for me to see a Taiwanese person or a group of Taiwanese people do something and create a stereotype about all Taiwanese people. It’s something that I have to watch myself for.
However, I have an answer.
I have previously blogged on how bad Taiwanese drivers are. This is a prime example of me labeling all Taiwanese as bad drivers, even though it isn’t true. Some Taiwanese are very good drivers. Taxi Drivers, for example, even though they are perhaps the craziest drivers, also tend to be the best – I’ve never seen them crash, they know the best routes through the cities, and if you need to get somewhere fast, follow the cab. Mrs. Expatriate’s father is also a very good driver. But I digress.
It’s easy to drive through Taiwanese traffic a few times and label all Taiwanese drivers as bad. This simply isn’t true. I’ve been thinking about this lately, however, and I believe I’ve come up with a solution that answers pretty much all the “problems” that Expats have with Taiwan.
Population Density.
You see, Taiwan is a small island packed to the gills with people. According to WolframAlpha, Taiwan’s population density is 712 people/km^2 (1844 people/mi^2). This makes it the 16th highest in the world. This means that no matter where you go in Taiwan, you’re going to run into people (OK, most places).
Where I’m from, South Dakota, the population density is 9.9 people/mi^2. Yeah, big difference. If you are from a bigger city, like Manhattan (25,850/km^2), then this is nothing new to you, but it’s still a lot of people.
I guess what I’m taking the long way of saying is that, for most expats, it is a matter of all Taiwanese drivers being bad drivers. It’s simply a matter of having a higher population density and therefore running into bad drivers more often. Taking Catherine’s example, it’s not a matter of Taiwanese women being shallow; it’s merely that you are running into shallow Taiwanese women more often. I’ve met plenty of good Taiwanese drivers and plenty of non-shallow Taiwanese women. However, you simply don’t meet them often enough to people being packed into the island like sardines.
I’ll finish off this post with Catherine’s own quote, which also goes for this blog. Some days in Taiwan are just those kind of days. As foreigners, it’s very easy to cast a wide net over Taiwanese culture and generalize about the people. Therefore, it’s even more important that we are aware of what we are doing and take steps to avoid it. Taiwan is a great place and we should do well to welcome more foreigners here by sharing our great impressions of the island.
I don’t want anyone stumbling upon my blog and leaving with an erroneous impression of Taiwanese culture — and people — just because I had a bad day and needed to vent. I don’t always succeed in this, but I am always conscious of it.
No related posts.
Sorry but you’re just being culturally correct. I’ve lived here for 5 years and Taiwanese people are some of the worst drivers on the planet. It has little to do with population density and more to do with licensing requirements. The drivers test is in a bloody parking lot…they may as well just hand out licenses in a box of cereal. I see an accident at least once a week and in 5 years here I have seen 3 dead people either in body bags being lifted into the ambulance or rolled over in the street by EMT workers and one woman fetal on the road with her shoes missing. My whole life back home I’ve never seen 1 dead person due to traffic accidents. Standards are non existent here and people really just don’t know what the f they are doing on the road. Even the best ones.
No, I don’t think so. I’ve lived here for 3 years and also seen plenty of accidents. But I’ve also ridden with many very good drivers who obey the laws and traffic regulations.
I’ve seen the driving tests, the driving schools, etc. There are many cultural factors that come into play, such as people not waiting for the green light (They’ll wait for the other side’s light to turn red), people turning left before the people going straight have gone through, etc. Those certainly are cultural factors, but the fact of the matter is, the population density here is higher than most places back home, hence you will see more horrible drivers more often. You will see more accidents more often.
So, yes, you see a lot of accidents, but every one of those those accidents, how many days have you gone by not seeing an accident at all? I’ve gone weeks, if not months, without seeing an accident and even gone several days with nobody passing me on the shoulder, cutting in front of me, etc. It’s all a matter of perspective. If you choose to focus on the negativity (“Taiwanese are all horrible drivers!”), that’s what you’ll see.
I’m an American of Taiwanese descent, and I’m guilty of “driving while Asian.” Must be the genes.
To “No way”
man, where the fxxk do you live back home? Greenland or North Pole? you never seen 1 dead person due to traffic accident because theres probably no car from your home town…gosh…people die everyday, just the matter of ways and time…I work for Funeral Service in Taiwan and everyday I meet people in their worst times of life. So what? Every second there is people dying somewhere in the world, you just don’t see it.
“Standards are non existent here”?
Name a country where EVERY SINGLE CITIZEN obey their country’s law. Jesus…go back home and study some history…and Im very sure you’re going to find out that NO SINGLE country has ever successfully made their citizens follow every single law the country has created. Standards is something different to everyone, if you try to put your standards to someone else, he or she might feel fxxked up because it is not their standards.
Whom ever you are…don’t comment on other peoples country if you are not familiar with that country and its citizens
To Taiwan Power
Well sorry to say…..No way is RIGHT,and I do know your country as I have lived and worked here in Taiwan for 15 yrs.Plus I add to this fact I have lived in most of the big cities here and a lot of small towns.And as is the norm here in Taiwan,I see accidents each and everyday as I do travel a lot both by car and scooter,some minor and some major,plus some fatal as No way pointed out …I had never seen a fatal accident until coming to Taiwan,and I do come from a big city in the UK. And your point YES we do and everybody does have accidents in our home countries but just not on the scale of Taiwan.Example to be given………………………..
I was shocked to see this sign in Chi-yi it read as follows For the month of January 26 people were killed on Bay-gan Lu
So here we have ONE road with 26 fatalities.This was 19 more than the whole of my city back home.
As for people dying every second and not seeing it……this is not the topic here,it’s about Taiwanese being horrible drivers “WHICH THEY ARE” so come on my friend stop living in a bubble and think the roses are fine because they are not.
Meaning the world over needs to get its act together all we will be all visiting people in your line of work a lot sooner than we need to……….So what are we going to do?????????
My teacher just gave me an assignment about stereotype and I found this blog while searching. I won’t deny that Taiwan’s traffic is really a mass comparing to other country. I myself am also afraid of the death rate on traffice accidents. As a Taiwaness, of course I won’t be happy to hear people judging my own country but I know some part of that is true and I believe this is not what we hope to happen. I think there are some good parts of Taiwan and I hope people who is now living in Taiwan can also see on the bright side while blaming the terrible traffic.
I agree. I’ll be the first to point out how bad Taiwan’s traffic is or what horrible drivers the people are, but I’ll also be the first to point out how friendly and nice they can be or how much I love getting out into the fresh air of the mountains and enjoying the vistas. There are plenty of great things to love about Taiwan; unfortunately, it seems like most foreigners just choose to concentrate on the negative.
Taiwan does not have a long tradition of “driving culture” and ethics such as that which has developed in the West’s long history of automobiles and road rules. Bicycle were the main mode of transportation here up until perhaps less than 20 years ago. Western drivers have a long tradition of driver taining and driving ethics which has infused a different general attitude toward rules of the road.
There is inadequite driver training here and law enforcment is very lax and almost nonexistant is some parts. Driving rules and standards are enforcable only through the justice system. Clearly the justice system here turns a blind eye in many cases.
This is an “me first” driving culture that does not generally view itself in terms of a community or social responsibility.
Obviously there are many Taiwanese who do try to follow the rules but the general tide seems to show a lack of courtesy when it comes to other drivers on the road.
You are dead on. Actually, I have been thinking about this very thing (the lack of driver’s ed, etc) the past week or so and was thinking it was time for another post on this subject since I recently passed my Taiwanese driver’s test.
Although nobody else seems to, I have to agree with “NoWay”. First off, when we say “all X are bad”, it’s shorthand for this:
1) Population X has a spread of behaviour about some average M.
2) The low end of the tail (6-sigma down from the average) is atrocious, an affront to man and nature.
3) The top end of the tail is quite reasonable (those are the ‘good drivers’ you find, now and then, in Taiwan).
4) The average, and 3-sigma either side of the average, compared to a benchmark sample of other populations, is significantly worse than one would expect.
But if we said it that way, our listeners would be asleep before we got to Number 3, right? So we just say “all X are bad”. Yes, it’s a generalisation. We don’t literally mean (in this case) that every single Taiwanese person is genetically incapable of driving. Simply that some unacceptably-high fraction are a menace on the roads. And the reason they are a menace on the roads is neatly illustrated by TaiwanPower. I’ve lived here for ten years and noticed this:
1) If you criticise Taiwanese driving, however tactfully, most Taiwanese present will not hear you talking about a particular behaviour that can be corrected, but an ad hominem attack on the entire culture and status of the Han people, it’s history, and their mothers, fathers, and pets – even if you try to stress that, generally, Taiwan is a wonderful place (which it is, IMHO).
2) Taiwanese people are hopeless at debate and formal logic (there we go – another generalisation). This is because the education system here is deliberately designed to destroy any latent skills people might have in that area. So TaiwanPower reasons that, because the law is not respected 100% of the time in other countries, it is acceptable and inevitable that Taiwanese people should not respect driving laws … which makes no sense on several different levels.
Essentially, TaiwanPower is saying that driving is inherently dangerous, people are going to get killed, so, duh, live with it; what ya gonna do? I’ve heard the same basic statement many times from different people. Here’s the deal, Taiwan:
-Yes, driving is inherently dangerous, just like operating a lathe, an aircraft, or a firearm.
-Therefore, you need to be trained how to do it properly, otherwise ‘inherently’ becomes ‘actually’ on a frequent basis.
-Some people will simply never be able to do it very well, and they should therefore not be allowed to.
-Those who are allowed to do it should be continually reminded that >80% of accidents are due to human error and are (theoretically) preventable.
-The corollary is that, when an accident occurs, it’s because somebody made a mistake. It is somebody’s fault.
-Other countries have reduced such mistakes to an acceptably low value and all Taiwan needs to do is copy what they did.
If Taiwan deliberately chooses, as a culture, not to do this, then Taiwanese people are jointly responsible for the intentional killing of innocent people. That is not an acceptable part of any culture I know of.
I have driven cars in both Taiwan and USA. I have also ridden motorcycles in both countries.
It is a different set of rules while driving in Taiwan.
Remember that Taiwan roads, especially the local streets are designed for motorcycle(scooters) and walking pedestrians in mind. The streets are much narrower, and full of people.
I find myself driving slower while in Taiwan. But I feel more aggressive riding a motorcycle here.
In the USA when I ride a motorcycle I tend to be on the highest alert. Motorcycles is much rarer than cars in the US – many accidents happen because the drivers do not see or unaware of the presence of nearby motorcyclists.
It is just a different way of driving, different set of rules to follow.
for example – Taiwanese drivers are excellent at parking in tight small spaces.