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NPA issues 15,000 tickets on first day of traffic crackdown

Yesterday the National Police Administration (NPA) reported that approximately 15,000 citations were issued on Monday -- the first day of a crackdown on traffic violations. This represented a 12-fold increase on tickets issued on normal days.

Burned red lights accounted for over 90 percent of all reported violations -- the majority of them reported in Taipei City as well as Taipei and Taoyuan counties.

"Old regulations did not discriminate between running through a red light and making an illegal right turn on a red light, leading many policemen to focus on illegal right turns rather than people running red lights," NPA representative Ho Kuo-rong (何國榮) said.

"Since the policy has changed, police officers have begun focusing on drivers running red lights, which probably accounts for the surge in tickets," Ho added.

Ho said that the new measures were simply "a necessary evil," as traffic signals are the clearest indicators of right of way.

"And if you can't make them stop at the red light, then you can't make them follow other traffic regulations," Ho added.
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