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.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we