A collaborative one-month project by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the National Police Agency (NPA) is to commence next month in hopes of reducing traffic accident rates.
Starting on Sept. 1, automobiles and scooters failing to yield the right of way to pedestrians at crossings or when turning are to be fined between NT$1,200 and NT$3,600 (US$41 and US$122), while vehicles running red lights are to be fined between NT$1,800 and NT$5,400, the NPA said.
Vehicles illegally turning right on a red light are to be fined between NT$600 and NT$1,800, while pedestrians failing to observe pedestrian crossings or jaywalking are to be fined NT$300, it said.
Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu,Taipei Times
If a vehicle proceeds over a crossing within 3m, or one lane, of a pedestrian, it would be considered not yielding, NPA Traffic Division chief Wang Feng-hui (王鳳輝) said.
Vehicles failing to yield the right of way when instructed to do so by a police officer would be considered a violation, he said, adding that if a vehicle is directed to pull over after failing to yield to pedestrians and ignores it, it would also be considered a violation.
NPA statistics showed that the number of incidents of vehicles failing to yield to pedestrians is on the rise — from 879,698 in 2015 to 1.38 million last year, and 779,110 in the first half of this year.
While the NPA is stepping up regulation enforcement, there is still a long way to go for the public to learn to obey the law, Wang said.
The number of fatalities occurring within 30 days of a traffic accident was 2,865 last year, rising by 85, or 3.1 percent, from 2018, the ministry’s Road Safety Committee Executive Secretary Hsieh Ming-hung (謝銘鴻) said.
Overall pedestrian injury and fatality rates rose to 458 last year, from 381 in 2017, while pedestrian injury and fatality rates at crossroads and intersections climbed to 209 last year, from 179 in 2017.
The safety of pedestrians must be guaranteed as they comprise the largest group of those using the roads, which is the impetus for the project, Hsieh said.
Armed with a budget of NT$804 million, the ministry said it would work with the Construction and Planning Agency to improve 2,680 intersections and crossings across the nation over the next four years.
Road safety is paramount as Taiwan is rapidly becoming an aging society, with elderly people comprising seven out of every 10 pedestrian fatalities, it said, encouraging local governments to create elderly-friendly environments, such as more sidewalks, increased number of pedestrian crossing lights and shorter crossings.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS