Blocked pedestrian areas, poorly designed sidewalks and construction frequently force pedestrians onto roadways, often resulting in serious injury, advocacy groups for the disabled said yesterday.
At a press conference, the groups -- including the Federation of the Disabled of the Republic of China -- urged the government and the public to "return the sidewalks to pedestrians."
Wen Chi-hsiang (
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
Because the sidewalk he was on was filled with motorcycles and vendor stands, he had to drive his electric wheelchair into the slow-traffic lane on the road and was hit from behind by a taxi, dislocating his left shoulder, breaking his pelvis and receiving facial injuries when his wheelchair overturned, he said.
Wen, who is left-handed, said he could no longer use the hand to write or do other things.
To protect himself, he has now installed a light on his wheelchair.
Eden Social Welfare Foundation's deputy CEO Lin Chin-chuan (
While using a car lane he was seriously injured in an accident.
He ended up with tens of stitches in his head and was hospitalized for three months; his brain injury continues to impact on his sense of smell, he said.
Lu Hung-wen (呂鴻文), chairman of the Taipei Association for the Promotion of Welfare for the Blind, said one of the association's members was also injured after being forced to walk in a slow-traffic lane two years ago because the sidewalk was blocked. However, the road was being repaired, but the warning signs were beyond the reach of the blind person's white stick. The person then fell into sewage that was five stories deep and, after being rescued, had to remain in hospital for two weeks to recover from the effects of the sewage, Lu said.
Hsieh Tung-ju (謝東儒), secretary-general of the Federation of the Disabled, suggested that government officials regularly update themselves on regulations to help ensure the safety of the disabled.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas