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Large vehicles to undergo series of safety inspections

The Department of Railways and Highways displayed yesterday a set of new stickers that will be issued to owners of large-size passenger vehicles after the vehicles have passed mandatory safety inspections.

The five round stickers, each having a diameter of 10cm, feature items that will be examined during the inspections -- dynamic braking, tilting, fire safety, vehicle superstructure and passenger seats.

Department director general Yin Cheng-peng (尹承蓬) said that owners will soon be able to get their vehicles inspected, adding that the stickers would become as early as within a month of a successful inspection.

Yin said that stickers must be applied on the inside of the windshield and to the right of the driver's seat.

"The new stickers serve as a useful reference for consumers," he said. "They will also encourage manufacturers to start producing vehicles that meet those inspection rules."

A series of tour bus accidents in the past year brought the safety of large-size passenger vehicles into question.

Last October, a tour bus carrying Chinese tourists fell into a valley in Nantou County, killing six people and injuring 14.

Two months later, another tour bus flipped over in Meiling (梅嶺), Tainan County, killing two and injuring 23.

In June, a tour bus fell off Yangte Boulevard (仰德大道) on Yangmingshan, in which eight people were killed and 25 injured.

While the cause of the latest accident was believed to be brake failure or human error, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has since formulated stricter laws regulating the operation of tour buses or other large-size passenger vehicles.

For its part, the Department of Railways and Highways began applying in July some of the vehicle inspection standards stipulated by the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

Basing itself on the year the majority of heavy vehicles were produced, the department finalized the standards and the timeline by which these will need to be implemented.

The department said that all the inspections must have taken place once a bus is fully equipped with all the necessary facilities.

By January, large-size passenger vehicles across the nation must all be able to handle a tilting angle of at least 28 degrees. By December next year, all heavy vehicles must also have passed fire safety and vehicle superstructure tests.

For the vehicle superstructure test, a rollover test on the complete vehicle will be conducted.

By next year, every large-sized passenger vehicle will be required to have passed a dynamic braking test and by 2009, safety belts must have been installed on every passenger seat.
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