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Youths in plea for better road safety

Youths and youth rights advocates called on Wednesday for improvements in road traffic safety, saying that road accidents result in the death of almost 1,000 children and young adults every year.

“Because of unsafe road traffic conditions, nearly 1,000 people under 24 years of age die in traffic accidents every year,” said Lin Yue-chin (林月琴), chief executive of the Jing Chuan Child Safety Foundation at a press conference.

“Traffic accidents are the major cause of death among children and teenagers in Taiwan,” Lin said.

She cited statistics showing that road accidents had been listed as the top cause of death among people aged under 24 for 14 consecutive years, while the mortality rate related to traffic accidents remained extremely high.

Nonetheless, the government allocates only a very small budget for traffic safety measures, Lin said, pointing out that it spent an average of just NT$17 a year per head on safety protection measures.

Lin urged the government to formulate new tougher regulations applicable to vehicles used to transport children to school.

As road traffic safety issues come under the jurisdiction of many different government agencies, Lin said, the Ministry of the Interior should coordinate and integrate government efforts to develop measures related to traffic safety for young people.

In a bid to promote traffic safety near schools, a university student group in Taichung City, which also attended the news conference, petitioned the Taichung City Government to bar large vehicles from traveling in school districts during school hours.

Tsai Ke-shi (蔡克斯), a representative of the group, said it was launched after five university students were hit by buses in the city in the space of six months.

He said that since the petition was launched in April it had collected more than 100,000 signatures. After two months of efforts, local governments in central Taiwan have promised to take measures to improve road safety, he said.
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