The nation’s first “musical road” was unveiled in Kinmen’s Dinglin Road (頂林路), where cars driving at 50kph play a tune generated by the vibrations between their wheels and the notches placed on the road, a team of researchers from National Quemoy University said.
First conceived in Denmark, musical roads aim to keep drivers awake and encourage them to drive under the speed limit, said Liao Yi-chun (廖翊君), a civil engineering student at the university.
The 85-meter-long section of road in Kinmen is an improved version of an experimental project by the university, researchers said, adding that the new section was paved on the same stretch of Dinglin Road to replace the original patch paved two months ago, which was eroded by rain.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
The project was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the researchers said.
The previous version of the road played a section from Beethoven’s ninth Symphony, while the new one plays a section from The Olive Tree, a Taiwanese song by Chyi Yu (齊豫), they said.
Some drivers were cited by the researchers as joking that they wonder whether drivers who are unaware of the design would be scared or delighted when driving over the road and hearing a song.
Conventional musical roads use grooves cut into the road surface to generate the desired tune, but the team in Kimen used household anti-slip strips to the same effect, without the need to permanently alter the existing road, said Shui Li-fu (水利夫), research team member and a civil engineering student at the university.
“The road in Kinmen is designed to keep drivers awake with music while giving an audible warning to drivers who exceeded the speed limit by making discordant and high-pitched sounds,” Shui said.
While the Ministry of Science and Technology’s funding only covered the cost of building a short stretch of road that plays eight notes, the team hopes that the Kinmen County Government would allocate a budget for a full installation, the researchers said, adding that they might change the tune to the Republic of China anthem if they receive funding.
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