Starting in September, people wanting to schedule a motorcycle license test must first take a practice hazard perception test on an educational platform set up by the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH), the highway authority said yesterday.
“The hazard perception test is only so that test takers can practice. A score on the practice test is not needed to schedule an appointment for a motorcycle license test,” Motor Vehicle Section Deputy Director Wei Wu-sheng (魏武盛) said.
However, materials covered in the practice test are to be included in a mandatory two-hour traffic safety lecture that each test taker must attend before taking the written part of the license test, Wei said.
Photo: Lee Li-fa, Taipei Times
The online platform has 20 30-second videos that test 11 aspects of road hazard perception, such as failure to keep a safe following distance, not following traffic signs and signals, and not heeding situations ahead, Wei said.
The videos were created to cover defensive driving, the main causes of motorcycle-related accidents, and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ (MOTC) policies for reducing traffic accidents unique to motorcyclists, the agency said.
Test takers must tap the screen, showing their reaction time to various scenarios, it said.
The UK and Australia have added questions on hazard perception to a database of questions for the license test, Wei said, adding that the agency is considering doing the same after adding about 80 more videos to the platform and consulting with transportation experts.
The agency conducted a survey of 1,800 students and staff members at motor vehicle offices nationwide, with 93 percent of them saying that the hazard perception test would enhance the safety awareness of road users, before the platform officially went online yesterday, Wei said.
Eighty-eight percent of respondents recommended adding hazard perception questions to the license test, he added.
Nearly 60 percent of traffic accidents are caused by motorcycle riders and traffic accidents account for nearly 80 percent of deaths among those aged 18 to 20, DGH statistics showed.
In related news, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that the government should not have to pay the processing fees incurred when people pay traffic fines with credit cards.
Lin made the comments when he was inspecting Keelung’s Zhengbin Fishing Harbor (正濱漁港).
Asked if local governments have been instructed to budget NT$40 million (US$1.3 million) for processing fees, Lin said that other agencies also face the same problem, and that the government is seeking to understand how the issue differs from agency to agency.
“Motor vehicle offices nationwide have given their input to the National Development Council, which is to come up with measures to apply in cities and counties across the nation,” Lin said.
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