An older woman was walking with an umbrella near Bailan Market

Older woman walking with umbrella near Bailan Market — Older woman walking with umbrella

I walked from one end of the Bailan market to the other and entered the road that intersected it. This road was much wider than the market road, and cars were coming and going. A large sign loomed over the road from a building, and motorcycles were parked along the side of the road. As I looked at the sign written in Chinese characters, I saw an old woman with a parasol walking toward me from the other side of the road.

According to 2011 data, the motorcycle ownership rate in Taiwan is 65.3 per 100 people, making Taiwan the most motorcycle-populated country in the world. This is more than six times the rate in Japan, where the rate is 9.5 per 100 people. Incidentally, the second most popular country is Malaysia, with 34.7 motorcycles per 100 people, making Taiwan's rate of motorcycle ownership nearly double that of the second most popular country. No wonder you see so many motorcycles everywhere you go in Taiwan.

With so many people owning motorcycles, if more people started to own cars, Taiwan's roads would be filled with cars. It would no longer be a simple matter of traffic congestion.

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