Taiwanese are most concerned about their safety and worry life in the future will only get worse, according to the results of a survey released yesterday.
The survey was conducted by the Taiwan branch of the US-based DuPont Co. March 25-28.
Nearly 80 percent of the 1,075 respondents said food and traffic safety issues are their greatest concern among the five categories presented to them in the survey on citizens' sense of security.
In the food category, 77.4 percent said disease-infected pork poses the greatest threat to them, while 74.4 percent pointed to residual pesticide on fruits and vegetables, and 73.4 percent mentioned the quality of take-out plastic bags.
In the traffic category, 85.2 percent mentioned concern over the possibility of an accident, 81.9 percent pointed to the potential of sexual assault by taxi drivers, and 70.9 percent mentioned long-distance bus operations.
Despite the insecurity revealed by the survey, 40 percent of Taiwanese lack the basic know-how to protect themselves, with 80.7 percent not knowing which bus companies are operating under a legal license, and 64.8 percent saying they jaywalk or run red lights.
Meanwhile, 34.3 percent acknowledged that they do not know how to properly wash off the residual pesticides on food, and 28.4 percent said they do not pay attention to restaurants' sanitation.
The study also indicated that many Taiwanese are pessimistic about the future, with 46.6 percent saying they think their life will get worse in the future, 36.6 percent saying it will remain about the same, and only 6.3 percent saying they hold an optimistic view.
As to who should be responsible for enhancing the public's sense of security, 33.2 percent said the government, 22.6 percent said themselves, 21.3 percent mentioned society, 8.8 percent said the media, and 5.3 percent said companies.
The survey is said to be accurate to within plus or minus three percentage points.
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