Road safety dummies are a distinctive feature of the streets of Taiwan. In Chinese they are generally known as engineering dummies 工程用假人 (pinyin: gōngchéngyòng jiǎrén), warning dummies 警示假人 (jǐngshì jiǎrén), or, more formally, electric flag-bearers 電動旗手 (diàndòng qíshǒu). According to law these robotic figures must be setup at all roadside construction sites to provide some measure of protection for workers as well as warn passing motorists and pedestrians of potential hazards. When hooked up to a car battery their stubby arms pump up and down, waving flags and other objects to direct traffic. Construction companies typically decorate these dummies with safety vests and hardhats, though it is not common for workers to express some creativity and personalize their dummies. Some of them even have individual names and histories! The rest of this post features photographs of some of the many road safety dummies I have encountered over the years.
A warning dummy hard at work on the streets of rural Changhua 彰化.
Working hard, or hardly working? This guy was lost in a reverie, gazing out over the rice paddies of Taoyuan.
This grim purple-faced warning dummy blocks part of a busy street in downtown Taipei 台北.
A distinctive dummy working the streets of Taipei. You’ll see him again later on.
Working on the dangerous Suhua Highway. Here you can see the car battery that powers the dummy’s arms. This team has also gone to the trouble of adding rubber boots to the ensemble.
An unusual sight while riding through the backroads of eastern Tainan 台南. Would you confuse this fluorescent apparition for an actual human being? Let’s take a closer look…
A face only a mother could love.
Worry lines criss-cross the face of this warning dummy in Taipei.
Face mask and safety goggles adorn this serious-looking warning dummy in downtown Taichung 台中.
An orange-faced dummy directing traffic in Taipei. Any resemblance to current American presidential candidates is entirely accidental.
Same dummy as before, six months later.
Why the blank face?
Open your third eye, dummy!
This dummy is dressed up like a police officer to direct pedestrians in the tourist town of Checheng in Nántóu 南投.
An impostor! This gas station has hacked together something that vaguely resembles the others… but there’s something not quite right about it.
Another dummy on the country roads of Changhua.
This dummy oversees roadwork on the scenic east coast of Taitung 台東.
No wonder the Taiwanese believe in ghosts! Imagine driving down remote mountain and forest roads at night and seeing these things waving at you in the dim light! It would be terrifying, especially to kids!