Between midnight and 4am yesterday morning, a total of 23,771 drivers nationwide were pulled off the road for alcohol tests on the first day of stricter regulations on drunk driving, with 468 drivers failing the tests, the National Police Agency (NPA) said yesterday.
Among the 468 drunk drivers, 174 whose blood alcohol content exceeded 0.55mg per liter would be charged with the inability to drive safely under the Offenses against Public Safety Act (
The change to the law on drunk driving stipulates heavier fines for offenders.
Under the former regulations, the legal limit for a driver's blood-alcohol level was 0.25mg per liter. If a driver's blood-alcohol level exceeded 0.25mg per liter, he or she faced a fine of between NT$15,000 (US$460) and NT$60,000 -- depending on the type of vehicle driven and the blood alcohol content measured.
If a driver's blood alcohol content exceeded 0.55mg per liter, he or she would be charged with the inability to drive safely, which carried either a maximum one-year jail sentence or a maximum fine of NT$30,000.
The new regulations punish serious drunk drivers with both imprisonment and a fine, stipulating that if a driver's blood alcohol level exceeds 0.55mg per liter, he or she could face up to one-year in prison as well as a fine of up to NT$150,000.
As a result, should an offender receive a six-month sentence (the maximum length of sentence that can be commuted to a fine), and commutes the term to a fine, the offender would face paying a fine of up to NT$690,000.
A total of 6,446 police officers were used by the NPA for the nationwide crackdown on drunk driving yesterday.
Police tested drivers' blood alcohol levels mainly in areas with lots of restaurants, pubs and KTVs, as well as on main roads in all the nation's cities.
The NPA said the police would continue the crackdown through the Lunar New Year holiday next month.
The NPA said that its statistics showed that January and February were the worst months for traffic accidents caused by drunk driving.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS