Pedestrians in Taiwan are often forced to walk onto the street because sidewalks are often filled with parked scooters, or occupied by shops.
Many stores surround the Tainan Gueiren Circle and it is a popular spot for people to shop, but upon closer look, people stop and drop off on green-designated areas, which are marked as pedestrian sidewalks by the Bureau of Transportation. People may have overlooked or simply figured it was convenient and temporarily stopped and occupied the space.
Citizen: “The cars drive in like this, so according to our old habits, we'd ride inside directly, which would trespass the law. But the current planning restricting vehicular lanes within a limited area is actually better for transportation.”
Citizen: “It seems to label "pedestrian sidewalk" specifically for pedestrians, so it is safer.”
Citizen: “This is a big post office so such a designation is not very convenient. This pedestrian sidewalk designation is not even in a tourist area so not very appropriate here.”
According to Gueiren Precinct Police, 24 violations have been reported on these pedestrian sidewalks for illegal parking and unauthorized use of lights since December 2022.
Hsu Bai-shuan, Deputy Chief, Gueiren Precinct: “Our precinct has already stipulated this section, including actual pedestrian sidewalks and designated pedestrian sidewalks, as a critical point of traffic inspection.”
Fang Chuan-he, Traffic Mgmt. Sec. Chief, Bureau of Transportation, Tainan: “The precinct will discuss how to strengthen the visibility of billboards to remind drivers to follow traffic rules.”
Some people note that these pedestrian sidewalks are often occupied and cars would use them as slow lanes. The Bureau of Transportation emphasized that it intends to convene relevant units to discuss how to exclude such unauthorized occurrences, hoping to build friendlier pedestrian sidewalks.
台南歸仁圓環周邊商家林立，也是民眾購買東西的熱門地點，但仔細看民眾停車的地點下面有著綠色標線，這是交通局近期剛劃設的標線型人行道，民眾或許沒看見或是圖方便，不少人臨停占用。
民眾表示：「車輛這樣進來，依照我們以前舊習慣就直接騎進來，就會不小心違法，但是他目前這樣子想法，把車道限縮在一定範圍（內），其實對這個交通我覺得是比以前好。」
有民眾認為：「感覺它有寫人行道，就是專門為行人設備的，會比較安全。」
也有民眾持不同意見：「這邊大郵局，劃這樣不舒適，你劃設這人行道，這邊又不是觀光地區，所以劃設這個沒有很適合。」
標線人行道遭占用，或汽機車違規行駛，歸仁分局統計，從去年12月劃設完後，舉發圓環違規停車及未依規定使用燈光共計24件，未來也會加強取締。
歸仁警分局副分局長徐百瑄指出：「本分局已經將這個路段的實體人行道和劃設人行道的部分，持續列為交通稽查重點。」
台南市交通局交管科長方川和說：「分局將研議加強告示牌面的提醒，駕駛人遵守交通規則。」
不過，也有民眾表示，當地的實體人行道遭店家占用，標線型人行道形同慢車道，行人也不敢走，交通局也強調，近期將召集相關單位研議排除，盼能營造友善行人道路。