Despite Taiwan government advertising where statistics are bent to show the deaths per thousand on certain roadways (only) have been reduced there are startling statistics out there showing over 50% of accidental deaths occur on roadways in Taiwan and a disproportionately high amount of Taiwanese die in traffic fatalities.
I think I once worked it out to an hourly rate where a Taiwanese is killed every 1-2 hours in a traffic fatality. Anyhow, the statistic was high enough that recently the American Trade Office (AIT) Director was able to rationalize hawking BSE-threatened beef by comparing it to the possibility of dying in a traffic accident. Can't beat them odds.
Then there is the recent article from the China Post stating that Taiwan's traffic fatalities are the highest in the world. Now most of us know that the reporting in the China Post is so skewed that they will even claim that the color of the sun is really white because that's the color of it on the Taiwanese (KMT) flag. But even the China Post makes it obvious that the government does not consider scooters to be vehicles, and therefore the amazingly high death rate of 17.5 deaths per 10,000 people is made to sound like 10% of its real total, 1.75; i.e. manipulating it from TWICE China's death rate to around that of the death rate in the United States.
See? There's nothing wrong here people! Scooters aren't vehicles, so there is no one is dying! Traffic is fine. Crisis averted. You can all go home now, but if you don't mind, I think I'll take the MRT.
