Saturday, July 09, 2011

Culture Clash - Alaskan State Patrol vs. Taiwanese Tourists

So I am watching National Geographic Channel the other day in Taiwan, and I had a major LOL moment. I was watching the show about Alaska's State Troopers, and they had a story about chasing down a car that wouldn't pull over. The troopers had their lights on and were trying to get the car to stop. The car wasn't trying to run away, it just wouldn't stop.

When the car finally did stop, the cops all had their guns drawn and yelled at the occupants to get out of the car. Upon exit they were instructed to put their hands on their heads, etc. - standard stuff. But their first clue should have been they didn't speak much English. It was a family of Taiwanese in Alaska on vacation.

For anyone who lives in Taiwan, you can understand exactly what happened. In Taiwan, for some inexplicable reason, the cops drive around town with their lights on. They just drive around at normal speed, but they rarely turn their lights off. While I have yet to get a logical answer as to why they do this, it is assumed they do this to deter the criminal element. Um, like if the lights aren't a warning and the bad guys would just stop what they are doing until the cops pass by :-p

Anyway, these poor Taiwanese tourists didn't understand that in the US, when you see the lights you'd better pull over. They are used to the Taiwan way, which is just to pay no attention (unless the siren comes on). So it's easily understood why they didn't bother pulling over.

Suffice to say that was the chuckle for the day...