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Transportation committee shelves compensation bill

The legislature’s Transportation Committee rejected a bill yesterday that sought to designate 20 percent of revenue collected through traffic penalties and fines as an emergency fund to compensate victims of drunk-driving accidents.

The committee said it would review the bill at a future date.

The bill was proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) and was endorsed by 34 other lawmakers from both the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party.

The bill was aimed at victims of drunk-driving accidents who often cannot be immediately compensated for their losses and damages because lawsuits often take a long time to be finalized.

It was argued that drunk drivers who cause accidents might not have the means to compensate victims or might simply avoid their responsibilities.

The fund would provide timely financial assistance to victims, the bill added.

Tsai said in the question and answer session that the government wanted to curb drunk-driving accidents by raising fines, but it had proven to be ineffective.

Victims need protection from the law, he said.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) also opposed the bill.

MOTC Vice Minister Oliver Yu (游芳來) said that drunk-driving is not the only cause of the traffic accidents.

The ministry should look at each and every cause of traffic accidents and treat them as equally important, he said.

Yu said the ministry has collected about NT$2.3 billion (US$70,000) in fines from drunk drivers between 2005 and last year, with 75 percent of the fines appropriated to local governments.

“And if we use the money to pay the victims instead, it will look like the government is compensating the victims on behalf of these drunk drivers,” he said. “This does not follow the principle of the equality and justice.”

Yu said the ministry would make suggestions to the Financial Supervisory Commission about the possibility of shortening the time for victims to receive reimbursement from the driver’s liability insurance.

Currently, victims have to wait two weeks to receive the payment after they make a claim.
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