Scooter Driving 202

Since I have been here nearly three weeks, and in that time I have gained significant experience on my scooter since my first post, I have prepared another lesson in Scooter Driving:

-If there is something stopped in the middle of the road, it is your responsibility to go around it. This includes swerving into the opposite lane of traffic to avoid the roadblock--the other cars will stop.
-To avoid catching the sun wear shirtless sleves, you can find these many places, and in many fashionable patterns to match every outfit.
-If you are wearing a skirt just ride "side-saddle."
-When it is rainging, do not drive on the painted lines on the road, your scooter will slip out from under you.
-Exhaust pipes are hot, do not touch them, and do not bump into them on other scooters while driving/riding.
-Adults are required to wear helmets while driving/riding scooters, children are not. It is perfectly acceptable to not put a helmet on your child or infant.
-Dogs are good scooter passengers.
-Wear your jacket backwards to lessen drag.
-Two-person scooters easily seat up to five people--the more the merrier.
-Honk to let people know you are coming.
-Green lights: drive quickly through light.
-Yellow lights: drive very quickly through light.
-Red lights: drive extremely quickly through light and blare horn.
-No one has a right of way, they have a "right of space." So you have the right to be wherever you are and do whatever you want.
-Driving in Taiwan is just one constant game of chicken, surely the other person will stop??
-It is not okay to get mad at someone who cut you off, they have the right to do that.
-It is okay to park in the middle of the road to run into a store and get a drink. This is also true for cars.
-There are no sidewalks in Taiwan, vendors, cars, trucks, carts, scooters, bikes, dogs, and pedestrians all share the road to do what they need to do. The road is also where you park. This is a very interesting dynamic on two lane streets.

So there it is. More tips. I'm sure there are more to come as time goes by.

Here is a quote by me to Emily one night on the scooter. I won't give details, but just know that it was a really hilarious situation and we both nearly wet our pants...

"Were you wondering when we were going to stop? Me too, I had no idea."