The government should impose heavier penalties on unlicensed drivers amid an annual increase in incidents involving drivers without a license, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Yueh-chin (林月琴) said yesterday.
Lin and Jin-Chuan Child Safety Foundation representatives urged the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to address the issue in a news conference in Taipei.
Lin was the foundation’s executive director.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The fatality rate in incidents involving unlicensed drivers is rising each year, she said.
Data collected from the past five years showed that unlicensed drivers were involved in an average of 40,000 traffic incidents each year, causing 70,000 deaths or injuries, while the number of incidents involving unlicensed drivers has increased 22 percent, she said.
Although the ministry had raised the fine for unlicensed drivers to NT$24,000 from NT$12,000 in June last year, the number of unlicensed drivers fined by the police was still between 180,000 and 200,000 in the past three years, with two-thirds of them being repeated offenders.
“We are also seeing an increase of unlicensed drivers who are minors. As the government has had many regulations in place to curb drunk driving, which have significantly reduced the number of traffic incidents caused by drunk drivers, there should be comparable measures in place to deter unlicensed drivers,” Lin said.
“We should not let unlicensed drivers become time bombs for other drivers and pedestrians on the streets,” she said.
Studies have shown that the number of persons injured or killed in traffic incidents involving unlicensed drivers and the social costs arising from those casualties are comparable to those caused by drunk drivers, she said.
Taiwan’s penalties for unlicensed drivers are inadequate compared with those imposed in Singapore, Japan and the US, Lin said.
“Unlicensed drivers in these countries face not only administrative penalties, but also criminal punishments,” she said. “Their vehicles would be detained, their qualifications to drive would be revoked and people who ride along would be penalized.”
Among motorcycle incidents involving unlicensed underage drivers, 92 percent of deaths and injuries involved minors aged 15 to 17, foundation executive director Hsu Ya-jen (許雅荏) said.
Further analyses showed that the incidents involving unlicensed underage drivers occurred for failing to heed traffic situations or to yield to other vehicles, or losing control of the vehicles while speeding or driving while intoxicated, Hsu said.
Department of Public Transportation and Supervision Director-General Lin Fu-shan (林福山) told the news conference that the ministry would consider the lawmaker’s recommendations and review regulations before proposing an amendment to existing regulations.
Whether criminal punishments should be imposed on unlicensed drivers should be decided by the Ministry of Justice, he said.
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