Geya Bus Transportation Co’s (巨業交通) right to operate a prime route in Taichung has been suspended for three months following a fatal traffic accident on Sunday, Taichung Transportation Bureau Director-General Yeh Chao-fu (葉昭甫) said yesterday.
Geya is the nation’s first bus operator to be deprived of operating rights to a prime route due to traffic safety concerns, he said, adding that the city endeavors to safeguard the safety of citizens.
A city bus operated by Geya hit two Tunghai University students crossing a road in Taichung, killing one and injuring the other.
Photo: Chang Hsuan-tse, Taipei Times
The bus driver was not paying close attention before he made a left turn even though the vehicle’s assistance system sent a warning signal, Yeh said.
As such, the company’s operational right of access to Taiwan Boulevard route No. 300 — its most profitable route — has been suspended for three months from today and transferred to United Highway Bus Co (統聯客運) and Taichung Bus (台中客運), he said.
The deprivation of the right of access to route No. 300 could be indefinite and extended to other prime routes if Geya fails to make improvements or commits more violations in the next three months, he added.
The punishment follows the five measures that the city government has imposed following the incident: a fine of NT$1.2 million (US$37,869) on Geya, requiring all city bus operators to provide road safety training for drivers within 10 days, strengthening safety controls in the top 20 accident-prone intersections in the city, stepping up punishments for bus operators causing major traffic accidents, and installing a driver assistance system on all city buses by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) yesterday inspected the busy intersection of Wunsin Road and Jhongcing Road amid rising public concern over traffic safety.
Enforcement of traffic regulations began on Wednesday and will continue until city bus drivers get rid of bad driving habits, Lu said.
Traffic violations such as overtaking, suddenly changing lanes, a zigzagging and failing to give way to pedestrians would incur severe punishment, including suspension of operating rights, she said, urging Taichung Police Commissioner Lee Wen-chang (李文章) to also fine drivers of other vehicles who fail to give way to pedestrians.
Good driving habits are crucial to ensure pedestrian safety, as buses are large vehicles and have more blind spots, Lu added.
The city government has in recent years been subsidizing the installation of vision-based driver assistance systems for bus operators, and 1,100 out of the city’s more than 1,300 buses have already installed such a system, she said, adding that the remaining 200 buses would be equipped by the end of the year.
While the bus involved in the accident has an assistance system, which gave a flash alert, it unfortunately failed to ward off an accident, so the importance of good driving habits cannot be overstated, Lu said.
Crosswalks used to be set up right at intersections, but the city has been moving them a little further away — which would allow more response time for drivers making turns — in line with the national policy, she said.
The redrawing of crosswalks has started with those near schools and hospitals, with the road enhancement of 156 sites expected to be completed by the end of next month, Lu said.
School-zone sidewalks would continue to be enhanced as well, in addition to the 123 schools that have done so, she added.
The city has made improvements to 13 accident-prone intersections across the city and should finish work on another 19 sites by the end of this month and complete work for all 63 intersections by the end of the year, she said.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry
SOVEREIGNTY EMPHASIZED: President William Lai said that Taiwan ‘absolutely will not sign’ an agreement with Beijing implying that the nation is part of China Taiwan hopes to join like-minded nations under the democratic umbrella and jointly counter authoritarian aggression, President William Lai (賴清德) said in a prerecorded speech during the annual Concordia Summit in New York on Tuesday. Lai addressed the summit via video at Concordia’s invitation, using the opportunity to speak on the issue of Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and Beijing’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758. Lai’s comments came on the heels of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, which opened on Tuesday. China has “distorted” UN Resolution 2758 “in support of its ‘one China’ principle,” he said. Through its misinterpretation