From March 1 next year, drivers whose licenses are suspended or revoked would have to apply for a new license that is valid for six months to two years, depending on the severity of their traffic offense, the Highway Bureau said on Friday.
Since July 1, 2013, driver’s licenses have been valid until after the driver turns 75, as long as their license is not revoked. Drivers whose licenses are suspended can have them back once the suspension is over and need not apply for a new one.
The only exceptions are drivers who do not have household registration in Taiwan and people with controllable epilepsy, who need to renew their license every six and two years respectively. Drivers who are banned from having a driver’s license for life can receive a one-year license if a series of conditions are met.
Photo: Taipei Times
To better manage drivers who repeatedly contravene traffic regulations, the bureau announced that it would soon reintroduce the limited-term driver’s license policy by proposing amendments to the Road and Traffic Safety Rules (道路交通安全規則), Road and Traffic Safety Lecture Regulations (道路交通安全講習辦法) and the Chart for Standard Rates for Fines Regarding Traffic Violations (違反道路交通管理事件統一裁罰基準表).
Aside from receiving a limited-term driver’s license, drivers would be required to take a three-hour defensive driving course and pay all unpaid fines, the bureau said.
From 2018 to last year, 311,808 drivers had their licenses suspended and 82,084 had their licenses revoked, bureau data showed.
Proposed amendments say that drivers whose licenses are suspended for less than a year can apply for a new license that is valid for six years once the suspension expires, Department of Public Transportation and Supervision Director-General Lin Fu-shan (林福山) said.
Drivers whose licenses are suspended for more than a year could apply for a new license that is valid for three years, while those whose licenses were revoked would have to retake the test before applying for a license that is valid for two years, Lin said.
“Drivers holding limited-term licenses would be given licenses allowing them to drive six months to two years if their licenses were suspended or revoked while their licenses were valid. However, if their licenses were neither revoked nor suspended during this period, they can apply for a license that is valid until they turn 75,” he said.
If they do not change to a new license after their limited-term license expires, they would be fined NT$1,800 to NT$3,600 for contravening the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) and be banned from driving, Lin said.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its