On Scooters and Helmets

Originally I had planned to return to Taiwan for the summer, but because of a massive passport screwup (namely, I forgot to renew it early enough) I think I'm going to be stuck in the States for the summer. Out of nostalgia I started reminiscing about Taiwan again, and for some reason the first thing that popped into my head other than friends and family was the traffic.

Now I know that in comparison to places like Indonesia, Taiwan's traffic is tame and not worth complaining about. But I swear, after seeing incident after incident of helmeted adults carrying helmetless children I can't help but shake my head at the sheer stupidity and inaneness of it all. When I returned last summer (06) there were many more helmets on people overall than I remembered in '98 when I first moved to Taiwan, but it was still quite disturbing, especially given the ridiculously low price for a helmet. (NT 150, roughly 5 USD) Granted, those cheap-ass 'Hello Kitty' helmets won't protect you in a crash anyway, but that's maybe besides the point for the purpose of my rant here.

Why do parents do this? Frankly it seems that safety just isn't an issue for most Taiwanese, many of my friends and relatives included. People seem to be either fatalistic, or just plain stingy. Helmet laws are enforced more often and strictly than 10 years ago, but as noted above most helmets I saw on people's heads would be worthless in a real crash anyway, and so i concluded that they were worn simply to comply with the law, and not out of any concern for their own safety. Consequently, it is perhaps unsurprising that kids didn't have helmets since a possible assumption would be that helmet laws aren't enforced for kids. I can't really say whether or not this is true, though.

However, what really makes me shake my head is the fact that these Taiwanese parents who let their kids go helmetless will also be the same ones who take their kids to get IV drips installed in their bodies at the first runny nose. They can't run around outside or leave the safe computer game world because it's dangerous out there. Wake up folks, YOU will probably be the one responsible for killing your kids!

Seriously, even those that wear helmets generally do it just for show. The most common kind in Taiwan is the "bowl" kind shown off by cute girls in television commercials. Those only cover the top of the head, and with so-thin-as-to-be-considered-worthless padding. Then again, given that they cost 100 NT, what do you expect? It saves you from being pulled over by the fuzz. Parents in Taiwan care more about dirty fingernails than they do about actual traffic safety. People pile kids into vehicles without safety seats or seat belts, and oftentimes it's above the legal carrying limit. Yes, I have crowded in with 18 other people into a vehicle meant for 11.

But back to scooters. Someone told me of an old helmet campaign that went something like this: "If your head is worth 100 NT, wear a 100 NT helmet. If your head is worth 3000 NT, wear a 3000 NT helmet."

Still, there's always a bright side of things. A quote a stumbled across regarding this phenomenon made me grimace.

"Every nation has its regrettable habits. After all, for every Taiwanese parent who drives his kids around without a helmet, there's a US parent who leaves his guns where the kids can get at them."

Damn. Sad but true.