The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled draft legislation for the planned national transportation safety council, which is expected to be formed next year at the earliest.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) approved the bills at a meeting, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka told a news conference in Taipei.
One bill seeks to change the name of the Organizational Act of the Aviation Safety Council (飛航安全調查委員會組織法) to the organizational act of the national transportation safety council and outlines what the proposed council’s purview would be and how it would be staffed.
Photo: CNA
To complement the bill, a draft amendment to the Aviation Occurrence Investigation Act (飛航事故調查法) was also introduced, which seeks to rename the act to transportation occurrence investigation act and recommends an investigation procedure for major rail, air or marine accidents.
The bills were drafted in the wake of the derailment of Puyuma Express No. 6432 in Yilan County on Oct. 21, in which 18 people were killed and more than 200 were injured, Kolas said, adding that they are part of the premier’s promise to the public to create an impartial and professional body capable of independently probing major transportation accidents.
The council would be modeled after the Japan Transport Safety Board and the US National Transportation Safety Board by expanding the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) to include experts on rail, marine and air transportation safety, she said.
Lai said the bills would be delivered to the Legislative Yuan for review and instructed the Aviation Safety Council and the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics to communicate extensively with the four legislative caucuses in the hope that they would soon be passed, Kolas said.
The proposed council would require about 100 staff members, including the 23 full-time ASC personnel, who are expected to be incorporated into it, ASC Chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) said.
The proposed council would employ experts specializing in all types of rail transportation systems, as well as experts in highway, sea and river transportation, Young said.
Asked what the bills’ definition of “major” transportation incidents would be, he said the question would have to be answered after the ASC and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications iron out the details.
The council could be created next year at the earliest, while it would take another two years for it to recruit specialists in all of the transportation fields, Young said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the