Former lawmakers urged the government to promulgate regulations that would ensure safety for children on roads near schools, as there is a lack of sidewalks and children often ride with their parents on motorcycles without suitable helmets or safety seats.
As of December last year, 14.54 million motorcycles were on the roads in Taiwan, Ministry of Transportation and Communications data showed.
However, compared with automobiles and bicycles, there are not enough regulations regarding safety seats on motorcycles and children wearing helmets, former New Power Party legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) told reporters.
Photo: CNA
Officials cannot ignore that it is dangerous for children to ride on a scooter with their parents, Wang said, adding that the government should require parents to install safety seats and for children to wear helmets.
Taiwan does not have enough public transportation, resulting in parents having to use scooters to take their children to school, she said.
The government should take responsibility by developing national standards for children on motorcycles, she said.
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Yu Yu-lan (游毓蘭) said it is more common to see parents and children riding scooters in rural areas than in cities, adding that many do not operate the vehicles properly.
For example, it is not easy to find a proper child’s helmet, resulting in many not wearing them, which leads to more serious injuries in crashes, Yu said.
In addition to developing more convenient public transportation facilities to reduce reliance on motorcycles, the government should also improve road safety around schools, she said.
Many elementary-school students are forced to walk on the road because there is no suitable sidewalk, she said.
Yu said that she has been asking the government to introduce laws requiring sidewalks along roads near schools, but the transportation ministry and the Ministry of the Interior are worried about upsetting shop owners and losing votes.
The government should encourage elementary-school students to walk to school by developing a safe and friendly environment and encourage junior-high students to ride a bike or walk to school by creating bicycle paths, she added.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS