The New Power Party (NPP) caucus yesterday called the Executive Yuan’s version of a draft basic act on traffic a “political joke” for being too abstract.
The party’s remarks came ahead of a Legislative Yuan Transportation Committee review of 17 traffic bills, including the Cabinet’s.
NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) told a news conference that the Cabinet proposed 27 articles that were abstract and lacking in content, adding that regulations on pedestrian safety had not been included.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The goal of “zero traffic-related deaths” is also absent in the Executive Yuan’s proposal, which removed policies, assessments and a timeline for improvement, resulting in endless meetings and subsidies allotment that would not help resolve traffic issues, Chiu added.
Neither the Executive Yuan nor the Ministry of Transportation and Communications held public hearings on the issues, NPP Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) said, adding that the Cabinet’s cursory and brash handling of the bill is unacceptable.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kuo-tsai (王國材) said that the basic act would occupy a higher hierarchy in terms of law and would serve as a basis for related legislation.
Wang said this was also the case in Japanese law.
The ministry agrees that some related laws should be reviewed to better tie in with the basic act, but the basic act should not be too detailed as it would conflict or overlap with related laws and cause further confusion, he said.
Separately, legislators yesterday said that traffic incidents involving large vehicles have, for the fourth consecutive year, exceeded 10,000, while a promised active forewarning system has faced severe delays.
The transportation ministry proposed the NT$330 million (US$10.2 million) system in 2021, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
It aims to help guide drivers, with anti-collision warning systems, lane departure warning systems, tire pressure gauges, blind spot warning devices, a system to detect whether a driver is too tired to operate the vehicle, a dashboard camera and alcohol-interlocking mechanisms.
Lin said it is a well-intentioned system that is perhaps the most advanced in the world, but it cannot be produced.
Even if the system were complete and ready for installation, it would take a decade to outfit all large vehicles, he said, urging the ministry to review its plans.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS