A traffic camera at the Sianglan section of Provincial Highway No. 9 has photographed an average of 1,500 speeding drivers a month, resulting in NT$20 million (US$690,000) in annual revenue for Taitung County, officials said.
According to a salesperson who works at a convenience store across from the Taitung County Government building, about half of the traffic tickets paid at the store are attributable to the camera in Sianglan (香蘭). The store processes more than 10 traffic tickets a month from that particular camera, the salesperson said.
The county’s police bureau said that because the Sianglan section of the highway is particularly wide and straight, drivers are more likely to experience a lapse of concentration on it. Over the past five days, two people have been killed in separate accidents on that section of the highway, the bureau added.
The establishment of a 70kph speed limit and the installation of the traffic camera were part of an effort to improve safety.
The measures have also resulted in an average of 1,500 tickets being issued a month, each for NT$1,800. The speeding tickets have become a major source of annual revenue — about NT$500 million — and are second only to licenses for sandstone mining.
However, drivers appear to view the traffic camera as a menace, as evidenced by an average of three acts of vandalism a month.
Angry drivers caught speeding used to vent their anger by breaking the glass on the camera, but with it now protected by bulletproof glass, they have resorted to spray painting or taping over the lens, local police said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku
RSS