Protests over ‘two-stage’ left turn at Taipei intersection

Описание: Scooter drivers are up in arms over a new traffic rule at a busy Taipei intersection. At the intersection of Civic Boulevard and Tacheng Street, scooter drivers are now banned from making a direct left turn. Since Aug. 1, they''ve had to use a maneuver called a "two-stage" left turn, which takes more time but is safer, according to traffic authorities.

Che Shyue-tair
Taipei transportation dept.
Anyone who walks on Zhengzhou Road knows that traffic is really dense at rush hour. That’s the first thing. The second issue is that it’s very close to the train station. A huge number of coaches and buses pass through this road. Scooters try to turn left by overtaking the buses from the right and they get hit by the buses.

Wu Hsiang-yu
Protest initiator
If you want to turn left here – it doesn’t matter if you are driving a scooter or a car – if you are in the outer lane and you want to turn left, you’ll definitely cause an accident. The Department of Transportation is not teaching and educating drivers that they should move to the inner lane before making the left turn. It’s just punishing scooter drivers. This is completely unfair to scooter drivers.

Hundreds of scooter riders blocked a Taipei intersection last week to protest the new rule. The protest was organized by the Right of Way association, which argues that mandatory two-stage turns are in fact more dangerous. The protesters say they will continue their demonstrations. But the Taipei government insists that the rule will stay and will be actively enforced.