When it comes to vehicles hitting pedestrians, the blanket term “accident” doesn’t cut it for the activists behind Vision Zero Taiwan.
“We have … mistaken accident for acts of nature, forgetting their human-made origin,” reads the text for an event on Saturday organized by the group to commemorate victims of “traffic violence.”
As part of the Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims in Taiwan, demonstrators will gather at 6pm in busy districts in Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung and Kaohsiung. Participants will walk along an assigned route to commemorate the 3,023 people who lost their lives on Taiwan’s roads last year.
Photo courtesy of Vision Zero Taiwan
“Taiwanese have become accustomed to viewing traffic deaths and injuries as … something to be resigned to as bad luck,” the text for the event explains.
However, most accidents are “preventable and avoidable.”
Established in 1995 in Sweden, Vision Zero, has become a multinational traffic safety initiative. A guiding principle of the project is that the life and health of citizens should not be traded for other social benefits. Many Vision Zero measures have been adopted by governments in countries and cities around the world.
Photo courtesy of Vision Zero Taiwan
WIDESPREAD ATTENTION
As one of the main organizers of Vision Zero Taiwan, YC Wu (吳宜蒨) played a key role in getting Taiwan’s Executive Yuan to approve a set of guidelines on pedestrian safety drafted by the Ministry of the Interior last year.
Following two incidents in which she was hit by cars while crossing roads in Taipei, Wu was diagnosed with PTSD and left fearful of walking in the city.
“I realized that I was not the only one who suffered physically and mentally because of traffic, but no one wanted to stand up and speak out,” she tells the Taipei Times.
Gathering a group of likeminded partners together, Wu organized “the first march on pedestrian rights in Taiwan’s history,” in August last year. The protest, which was held under the provocative banner “stop killing pedestrians” took place on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard. It drew considerable media coverage and even the attention of the political top brass.
“I didn’t expect that all presidential candidates would show up,” says Wu. The groundswell of support piled pressure on the government to approve a higher-level set of policy guidelines for pedestrian traffic safety to be implemented from last year to 2027. The guidelines include three main initiatives: the enactment of a basic act for road traffic safety; measures to encourage greater use of public transportation; and the implementation of improvements to pedestrian safety.
“Getting the government [to agree] to pass a basic act of traffic safety in Taiwan, was beyond my wildest expectations,” says Wu.
CONTRADICTORY POLICIES
As the first step of this plan, a draft bill on sidewalk safety measures was submitted to the Legislative Yuan on March 7. However, there are concerns that this positive action could be a case of one step forward and two steps back: On the same day, the Cabinet announced approval of a separate bill from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to reduce fines for “minor” infractions, including riding scooters on sidewalks.
Considering the reference in the Ministry of the Interior initiatives to “heavier traffic fines … for key traffic violations,” the two policies appear contradictory.
“The [MOI] seems to have more political will to improve the situation,” says Yi-xian (一閑), an activist with Vision Zero Taiwan who prefers to use only her given name.
She notes that, worldwide, many cities that have implemented Vision Zero principles on “physical road interventions” such as lane narrowing and 30-kph speed limits, have seen a significant reduction in traffic casualties.
“Our concern is that, since it is only a concept and lacks any binding force, if governments do not have the political will or courage to adopt measures already established in other regions, it will remain merely an empty slogan,” she says.
Such fears have motivated activists to take concrete action. Last weekend saw Vision Zero Taiwan and other advocacy groups for pedestrian and disabled rights organize flash mob protests islandwide. Saturday’s remembrance events are aimed at emphasizing the human element in the equation.
“We have long forgotten that casualty statistics represent lives lost, not just numbers,” reads the statement for the event.
OVERTON WINDOW
Participants in Saturday’s memorial walks will be given electronic candles to carry. A moment’s silence will be held to honor those who have lost their lives on Taiwan’s roads. Following this vigil, people will be invited to fold white paper cranes and “share stories of the trauma and pain caused by the violence embedded in our transportation system.”
Jonathan Knowles, a long-term British resident of Taiwan, who helped organize Saturday’s event and last year’s protest, refers to the “Overton window of discourse regarding the inevitability of traffic deaths and injuries in Taiwan.”
The Overton window refers to the range of policies that are considered acceptable by the public at any given time.
“While many campaigns focus on reducing casualties, we wanted ours to plant the idea in people’s minds that there is a possible future in which all road deaths are a thing of the past,” he says.
Last month historian Stephen Wertheim of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published an opinion piece in the New York Times with suggestions for an “America First” foreign policy for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Of course China and Taiwan received a mention. “Under presidents Trump and Biden,” Wertheim contends, “the world’s top two powers have descended into open rivalry, with tensions over Taiwan coming to the fore.” After complaining that Washington is militarizing the Taiwan issue, he argues that “In truth, Beijing has long proved willing to tolerate the island’s self-rule so long as Taiwan does not declare independence
Big changes are afoot in global politics, which that are having a big impact on the global order, look set to continue and have the potential to completely reshape it. In my previous column we examined the three macro megatrends impacting the entire planet: Technology, demographics and climate. Below are international trends that are social, political, geopolitical and economic. While there will be some impact on Taiwan from all four, it is likely the first two will be minor, but the second two will likely change the course of Taiwan’s history. The re-election of Donald Trump as president of the US
Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 The Dutch had a choice: join the indigenous Siraya of Sinkan Village (in today’s Tainan) on a headhunting mission or risk losing them as believers. Missionaries George Candidus and Robert Junius relayed their request to the Dutch governor, emphasizing that if they aided the Sinkan, the news would spread and more local inhabitants would be willing to embrace Christianity. Led by Nicolaes Couckebacker, chief factor of the trading post in Formosa, the party set out in December 1630 south toward the Makatao village of Tampsui (by today’s Gaoping River in Pingtung County), whose warriors had taken the
Gunshots, screams, eerie laughter: South Korea’s border island Ganghwa is being bombarded nightly with blood-curdling sounds, part of a new campaign by the nuclear-armed North that is driving residents to despair. Before it started, 56-year-old Kim Yun-suk fell asleep to the hum of insects and woke to the chirping of birds. Now, she is kept awake every night by what sounds like the soundtrack of a low-budget horror movie at top volume. “The peaceful sounds of nature... have now been drowned out,” Kim said. “All we hear is this noise.” The campaign is the latest manifestation of steadily declining ties between the two Koreas
RSS