The Highway Bureau and experts on Thursday suggested redesigning a pedestrian crossing and shortening it at the spot where three children were hit by a car when crossing the road in Changhua County last week.
After a second inspection of the scene, bureau official Chen Chen-kang (陳禎康) said the pedestrian crossing should be aligned perpendicular to the direction of the traffic flow, as the current crossing is too long and oblique.
In addition, the corner where vehicles turn should be made smaller so there is enough space for pedestrians to wait and have a clearer view of traffic conditions, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of the Highway Bureau Changhua County Public Works Section
Chen added that the bureau is also mulling the creation of a Z-shaped crossing with a pedestrian island in the middle of the road, giving those crossing a place to pause if they are unable to complete the crossing in one sequence.
The third proposal, Chen said, involves implementing a Z-crossing while reducing the size of the intersection, so pedestrians do not have to walk as far to cross the road.
This would also involve installing a channelizing island, Chen said.
YouTuber Huang Yun-tsung (黃筠倧), nicknamed “Owl,” who has been focusing on road safety issues in Taiwan, also attended the inspection on Thursday.
Huang told CNA that the pedestrian crossing, pedestrian island and channelizing island should all be installed at the intersection to shorten the time pedestrians spend crossing the road.
Changhua County Councilor Lai Ching-mei (賴清美) said that the intersection where the children were hit often experiences heavy traffic, with many elderly people and children crossing it.
She said officials should consider the habits of people in rural areas and focus on improving lighting along the road rather than implementing a Z-crossing, which could make crossing the road even more complicated.
The accident happened when three children, all of elementary-school age, were hit by a car driven by a 73-year-old man without a driving license, on a pedestrian crossing in the county’s Shengang Township (伸港) at 6:21pm on Thursday last week, police said.
The two older siblings, both girls, sustained severe injuries, while their brother had bruises to his left foot, said the hospitals where the children were taken.
Both sisters are currently undergoing intensive care treatment, while the boy was discharged last week, hospital officials said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
RSS