As early as March next year, drivers in vehicles on freeways where rear seat passengers are not wearing seat belts will be fined NT$3,000 (US$92) to NT$6,000.
The measure, which passed its third reading in the Legislative Yuan yesterday as an amendment to Section 31 of the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Law (道路交通管理處罰條例), was sponsored by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Tsiao-long (陳朝龍).
close encounter
On the way to an election campaign event in May last year, Chen's car smashed into a telegraph pole.
"I wasn't wearing a safety belt because I mistakenly thought that sitting in the back seat is safer," Chen said. "If I had been, I would not have suffered such serious damage to my face or shattered my leg."
Since then Chen has campaigned to regulate the mandatory use of seat belts in the rear seat of cars.
The existing laws already require seat belts to be used for the driver and front-seat passenger of the vehicle.
Hu's accident
Chen's amendment was stuck in the legislature's procedure committee until the car crash earlier this month in which Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's (
Hu and Shaw were also on their way to a campaign event, and Shaw was sitting in the rear and not wearing a seat belt.
"I'm very sorry for Shaw's injuries," Chen said. "But her accident made this amendment a priority for lawmakers and it passed into law very smoothly."
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS