Pedestrian safety is among four new policies to be implemented from Jan. 1, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday.
The ministry is to provide subsidies for local governments to improve road safety and protect pedestrians’ rights, which is one of four policy areas that are to take effect in the new year, it said.
The pedestrian program aims to enhance safety at intersections; address sidewalk issues, with a focus on eliminating changes of level; improve road safety in areas around schools where there are high accident rates; set up demonstration areas with low speed limits and safety facilities; move telephone poles and street lights that block sidewalk access; and improve safety at intersections without traffic lights, it said.
Photo: Huang Hsin-po, Taipei Times
Also starting next year, mandatory military service is to be restored to one year for all males born after Jan. 1, 2005, including those who enter alternative military service, it said.
Males born after Jan. 1, 2005, can apply for alternative military service due to family and religious reasons as long as the demand for standing forces and auxiliary forces is met, it said.
Amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) approved in May are to be implemented in stages next year, the ministry said.
From Jan. 1, foreigners who have divorced a Taiwanese due to domestic violence and have not remarried would be allowed to continue their residence, the amendments say.
Taiwanese who do not have household registration in Taiwan, such as those born abroad to Taiwanese parents, can apply for residence after living legally in Taiwan for at least 183 days per year for five consecutive years, the amendments say.
From March 1, the National Immigration Agency would be able to repeatedly detain foreigners who have been ordered to exit Taiwan, but are unable to leave, the amendments say.
Amendments to the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法), which were passed in May, are also to take effect on Jan. 1, the ministry said.
The changes to the human trafficking laws expand the definition of exploitation to include forcing people to commit criminal acts.
Those who contravene the law would face a prison sentence of one to seven years, the new rules say.
If people who have been subjected to human trafficking disagree with the results of an investigation, they can submit written objections to the authority superior to the investigating unit, the updated laws say.
People who are convicted of human trafficking would be barred from government procurement programs for five years, the amendments say.
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,
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