Several new traffic regulations went into effect today, including one rule mandating the installation of ignition interlock devices in the vehicles of people repeatedly found driving drunk.
People who have their driver’s license revoked after three drunk driving convictions must now undergo a three-month program for alcohol addiction — with required attendance of at least seven sessions — and obtain a certificate from the program before being allowed to take a driver’s exam, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said.
Drunk drivers whose licenses have been suspended and need to retake the driver’s exam will now have to attend a 15-hour, NT$2,800 course on drunk driving, for which they must pay out of their own pockets, it said.
People retaking the driver’s exam whose previous license was revoked due to a drunk driving charge must now have an ignition interlock device installed in their vehicle for one year and register themselves with their local motor vehicles office, the ministry said.
They must also visit the manufacturer of the device each month for its data to be downloaded, it said.
The device administers a breath alcohol test before allowing the vehicle’s engine to start and a second test five minutes later, the ministry said.
Every 45 to 60 minutes, the driver is prompted and given 15 minutes to pull over and undergo another test, it said.
Failure to comply would result in the engine shutting off and the steering wheel locking, which can only be remedied by towing the vehicle to the device’s manufacturer, it added.
People who meet the criteria for the device and drive a vehicle without one, or tamper with the system so it does not work as intended, would face a fine of NT$6,000 to NT$12,000 under the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), the ministry said.
Having another person take the breath alcohol test to start a vehicle would result in a fine of NT$6,000 to NT$12,000 for that person, it added.
Also starting today, child seats on bicycles would be considered legal, the ministry said.
Child seats may only be installed on bicycles and electric bikes, not electric scooters, it said.
If the child seat is installed in the front, children must be aged one to four and weigh less than 15kg to ride, the ministry said.
If installed in the rear, only children aged one to six and weighing less than 22kg may ride in the child seat, it said.
If the rider of a bicycle with a child seat is a minor, or the age or weight of the passenger exceeds the limits, the rider would face a fine of NT$300 to NT$600, it added.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.