A three-year-old girl was killed and her mother was injured when a car hit them as they were crossing at an intersection in Tainan on Monday, a recent example of fatal and near-fatal incidents involving pedestrians in Taiwan.
An SUV hit a woman on a crosswalk in Taoyuan on Nov. 30 last year; the following month a mother and child were killed by a bus while crossing a road at night in Taichung; and on March 13 a woman hit a 77-year-old man crossing a road in Taichung.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) on Wednesday ordered that pedestrian-only crossing intervals — scramble crossing — be implemented at intersections nationwide. This is the most promising proposal to rectify the dangerous conditions pedestrians in Taiwan face, but there are other steps the government should take.
Last year, a CNN report called out Taiwan for its “living hell” traffic. The report cited a Facebook post by Ray Yang (楊威榮), who complained of “nearly getting run over” while in Taiwan after years living in Australia. “Cities in Taiwan share a major issue — a lack of pavements and consistent walkways for pedestrians,” Yang told CNN.
Only 42 percent of roads in Taiwan have sidewalks, CNN reported, citing government statistics. People pushing strollers or using a wheelchair are often forced to use the road to pass transformers, light poles and other obstacles, it said.
It also cited the US Department of State telling visitors to Taiwan to “exercise caution when crossing streets because many drivers do not respect the pedestrians’ right of way,” and the Canadian government as warning people that “motorcycles and scooter drivers [in Taiwan] don’t respect traffic laws. They are extremely reckless.”
There are multiple sources of Taiwan’s traffic woes: Drivers do not respect traffic laws or are not properly taught, police do not properly enforce the laws and there is a lack of proper infrastructure.
In December last year, Wang said that proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) would increase penalties for drivers who do not yield to pedestrians. However, the proposed changes are unlikely to deter dangerous drivers, because they are not likely to be enforced. Even if they are, poor driving habits are so ingrained in Taiwan that many drivers are probably unaware that they are breaking the rules.
To get a better idea of the situation, stand at a busy intersection for 15 minutes. Drivers make diagonal left turns that cut in front of oncoming traffic without yielding, regularly run red lights and often park on crosswalks.
Tackling such behavior requires that every driver be retested. Local governments could rotate through their boroughs and districts, having one area tested over a month before moving on to the next area. Drivers could be given one year to retest before having their license suspended.
Police would also need to ramp up enforcement of traffic violations. They should be at intersections during peak traffic and patrolling the rest of the day. Relying on cameras does not help.
Regarding infrastructure, scramble crossings are a good start. However, every road — except for the narrowest of alleys — should have a sidewalk that is kept clear of scooters and other obstructions.
The government must implement a comprehensive plan to tackle driving and infrastructure problems if it is serious about decreasing the number of fatal traffic incidents. Small changes are not going to make a difference.
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