A total of 86,268 traffic accidents that resulted in injuries or death were recorded in the first six months of the year, a 5.3 percent increase from the same period last year, a report released yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior showed.
The figures translated into a year-on-year increase in the accident rate from 39.4 to 40.9 cases per 10,000 vehicles, the ministry said.
The ministry said that the increase reflected a 5.5 percent rise in the number of accidents that involved the injury of passengers or motorists with deaths occurring more than 24 hours after the accident.
However, the number of road users who died within 24 hours of an accident declined by 10 percent, the ministry said.
In that category, 19.7 percent of the fatalities were caused by drunk-driving, 17.7 percent as result of drivers not paying attention and 12.5 percent because of drivers’ failure to yield right of way as stipulated in traffic regulations, the report said.
The report said that two-wheeled vehicles were the most dangerous types of transport, because 43.6 percent of road fatalities involved riders of bicycles, motorcycles or scooters.
The road fatality rate involving cars was 27.3 percent and trucks 17.6 percent, the report showed.
The statistics showed that most fatal accidents — 11.36 percent — occurred between 6pm and 8pm, while 9.61 percent occurred between 6am and 8am, and 9.09 percent between 12pm and 2pm.
In terms of the areas where most fatal traffic accidents occured, Pingtung County was at the top of the list with 78 deaths in 77 accidents, followed by Tainan County with 76 deaths in 75 accidents and Taichung County with 72 deaths in 70 accidents, the report said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS