Police authorities said yesterday that their was a record low number of fatal traffic accidents last year, indicating that traffic safety was improving.
The National Police Agency (NPA) said there were 2,016 fatal traffic accidents last year, with 2,092 deaths. Both numbers are the lowest figures in 13 years.
There were 2,150 fatal traffic accidents in 2008, with 2,224 deaths, the NPA said.
The agency said that among the fatal accidents last year, 387 accidents involved drinking and driving, accounting for 19.2 percent; 374 cases, or 18.55 percent, were attributed to careless driving, while another 249 fatal accidents, or 12.35 percent occurred after drivers violated traffic rules.
The NPA said the statistics showed drinking and driving was still widespread, even though there are strict punishments in place for drink driving offenders.
Statistics show most fatal traffic accidents occurred between 6pm and 8pm, or rush hour.
The bureau added that 297 deaths, or 14.2 percent, were people aged between 70 and 79, while 187 deaths were people aged between 20 and 24, or 8.94 percent, and 177 between 25 and 29, accounting 8.46 percent, indicating that the elderly and youngsters were the most likely victims in fatal traffic accidents.
Scooter accidents (882), accounted for 43.7 percent of deaths, with 515 car accidents, accounting for 25.5 percent, the bureau said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching