Car occupancy regulations waived for Tomb Sweeping

Vehicles not be required to observe the high occupancy rule in order to use the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway (Freeway No. 5) during the Tomb Sweeping holiday next month, the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau said yesterday.

The bureau said that it would not enforce the High Occupancy Vehicle Control regulation on the freeway.

"Since family members will be traveling together during the holidays, enforcing the policy to reduce vehicles on Freeway No. 5 will not have much effect on the traffic," bureau Director-General Lee Tai-ming (李泰明) said.

"Instead, the policy will affect the transportation of goods and products during this period," he said.

As to a proposal to regularly enforce the policy on weekends on Freeway No. 5, Lee said the bureau was still evaluating the idea and was unlikely to implement the proposal before the Tomb Sweeping holiday, which begins on Wednesday, April 5 and lasts until Sunday, April 8.

The heaviest traffic is expected on April 5, which is Tomb Sweeping Day.

Kang Jhy-fu (康志福), deputy director of the bureau's traffic management department, said that the bureau would consider the proposal, along with the possibility of allowing large trucks and other vehicles to use the Hsuehshan Tunnel, one of the tunnels along the freeway.

Safety regulations temporarily bar large vehicles from using the tunnel.

Kang that the ban on large vehicles could only be lifted after the freeway bureau had conducted adequate fire drills.

The bureau's fire drill plan has been submitted to the National Disaster and Prevention Commission and has yet to be approved.

"It's still too early to say when we are going to do it [allow large vehicles access]," he said.

To ease the traffic on the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway, the bureau was considering using ramp meters to regulate the number of vehicles using the road. It was also evaluating the possibility of closing toll booths between 12am and 6am.

The bureau also released the results of its review of traffic during the Lunar New Year holidays yesterday.

On average, approximately 2.39 million vehicles a day used freeways from Feb. 17 to Feb. 25, which was about three to five times more than the average number.

Closing booths during early morning hours and enforcing vehicle occupancy rules proved effective in improving traffic flow on freeways, diverting some daytime traffic to night time and reducing the number of vehicles.