Police announced yesterday that they would use hidden cameras in a "strict crackdown" on traffic violations.
The crackdown starts today.
"Drunk driving, serious speeding [40 kph over the speed limit], running red lights, driving on the shoulders of freeways, driving oversized vehicles, driving slowly in freeway fast lanes and large-sized vehicles that block automobile traffic will be the focus of this crackdown," the National Police Bureau said in a press release yesterday.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hidden cameras will be used to enforce all of the crackdown's targeted violations except for drunk driving, the statement said.
Police officers will gather video footage of traffic violations from their patrol cars and video and still photos from hidden locations, it said.
The bureau noted that in June 2003, one driver attempted to crash a car into the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, while another attempted to crash into Keelung Police Station. Both drivers cited discontent at being fined for violating traffic regulations as their motivation.
"The police crackdown on traffic violations was therefore branded `government robbery' and the police bureau announced in July 2003 that traffic police would no longer use hidden cameras to enforce traffic violations. Since then, traffic police have been required to position themselves in obvious places and wear police uniforms," the statement said.
As a result of the measure, however, the bureau said that although traffic citations had decreased from an average of 20 million per year before 2005 down to 10 million per year in 2005, deaths caused by traffic accidents had risen from 4,322 in 2002 to 4,735 in 2005.
The death toll was projected to reach to 5,000 last year.
The nation's death rate resulting from traffic incidents is higher than that of the US and Japan, the bureau said.
While about 21 individuals per 100,000 people died in traffic accidents in Taiwan last year, the number was about 15 in the US and seven in Japan.
The bureau said there were about 320,000 traffic accidents in 2005 causing 4,735 deaths and 200,000 injuries.
About 640,000 individuals faced administrative, civil or criminal penalties for traffic incidents in 2005, the bureau said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS