The Ministry of the Interior yesterday said that stricter enforcement of traffic rules for the Sun Yat-sen Freeway was reducing the death toll for the accident-prone stretch of road.
The National Police Agency's strict enforcement campaign started on Monday, and is targeting five traffic violations: changing lanes without indicating, failure to keep a proper distance from other vehicles, improper use of the outside lane, large vehicles (with more than three axles) in inappropriate lanes and driving on shoulders.
Motorists who violate the rules will face a fine of NT$3,000 per offense. The crackdown is being enforced 24 hours a day.
Traffic is being monitored using helicopter patrols in addition to regular patrol cars.
Helicopters are being dispatched during rush hour -- from 7am to 9am and 5pm to 7pm -- to provide real-time traffic condition updates and to provide immediate assistance when serious traffic accidents occur.
However, during the two-week trial period which ended on Sunday, the enforcement campaign came under fire from motorists and lawmakers. They have complained that the campaign was overly strict and a waste of resources.
In response to the complaints, Vice Minister of the Interior Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) yesterday said the enforcement plan had good intentions.
"The purpose of this plan is to reduce accidents on the freeway and the death toll. The helicopters are being used because an aerial view allows for a more comprehensive control of traffic flow on the freeway," Lee said.
He said that on the first day of the campaign, more than 900 traffic violations had been spotted and acted on.
"This number means that a potential 900 car accidents never took place. We hope that the public can understand the government's goodwill in executing this plan," Lee said.
As to media skeptics who doubted the utility of helicopter patrols, Lee said that the National Police Agency's air patrol unit assignment list had always included assistance in cracking down on crime as well as helping with disaster relief.
"The entire campaign is consistent with traffic laws and aims to protect motorists," Lee said.
Freeway traffic accident figures provided by the agency show that between January 2000 and June this year, there were 371 freeway accidents with 453 people killed.
The leading causes of accidents were not maintaining a proper distance between vehicles and illegal lane changes, which combined to produce 88 accidents, 108 deaths and 113 injured.
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