Drunk Driving in Taiwan

Last night I was in Tien Mu driving around with a friend. Entering the Tien Mu area (next to the baseball stadium) the was a police checkpoint. The method for controlling drunk driving in Taiwan is simple... Place a police checkpoint in moderate traffic areas, and perform the visual inspection. On occasion the question "Have you been drinking" is asked, and sometimes a simple sniff of the interior of your car is performed. Well, after answering the rigorous question "Did you have any drinks?" we passed the checkpoint and headed down Tien Mu East Road. After deciding nothing was happening there (no big surprise) we turned around and started heading towards Tien Mu West road.

On the way we passed a guy in a red Saab convertible parked in the right lane talking to a taxi driver with a beer in his hand. With my video recorder in-hand, we pulled over and waited for the red Saab to pass us. After about 10 min, the Saab turned on his lights, and proceeded to honk is horn, randomly flash his blinkers and shift from lane to lane (not as much in a drunken stupor as in just plain idiocy). We followed him to the Ox on the Roof bar, where he proceeded to park in the rightmost lane and get out of the car to go talk with people in the bar. After another 10 min pause, he proceeded to continue his lane changing horn honking charade and make a u turn, narrowly avoiding hitting another oncoming car. As we approached we noticed that a police office is his car witnessed the whole scene (as he was waiting at the light) . But did nothing. Unfortunately i paused my recording at the Ox on the Roof, and did not capture this blatant near collision in front of the officer :(.

Unfortunately foreigners have a reputation in Taiwan for being drunk lecherous people. Based on very little fact, but well known to many locals. While the fact remains that Taiwan business circles relies heavily on KTV and bar-room negotiations, most foreigners must be willing to drink in order to get business done. In psychology there is a term called projection (Freudian Projection), which I think fairly accurately describes the mentality involved whenever there are unwanted associations with ones self or culture and placing them on another. There is a drinking problem in Taiwan, and there is a drinking and driving problem in Taiwan. I would even suggest (without proof) this is a bigger problem than in other countries, and exacerbated by the ineffective measures in place to deal with it. I will not say I have not met 'drunkards' who are foreigners, nor will I say I haven't been falling down drunk in Taiwan before. But it does not benefit Taiwanese to continue this myth when it only proves ignorance and does not deal with the issues at home.

(This is a placeholder for video as soon as i can resolve my conversion issue)