Fatalities from scooter accidents in Taipei City have increased every year despite tightened traffic rules, the Traffic Police Division said yesterday, vowing to strengthen measures to address the problem.
Statistics from the division showed that more than 50 percent of road fatalities in the city over the past three years involved scooter drivers, with the number of deaths caused by scooter accidents increasing every year.
“Scooters are the most dangerous type of transportation, and we have been trying to reduce the number of traffic accidents involving scooters. We will target scooter drivers and clamp down on traffic violations,” division chief Fang Yang-ning (方仰寧) said.
VIOLATIONS
Major traffic violations by scooter drivers — including drunk driving, running red lights and driving in car-only lanes — will top the crackdown list, he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City councilors Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) and Lee Ching-feng (李慶鋒), however, accused the city government of handing out too many tickets to scooter drivers and treating them as “cash dispensers.”
A list of roads provided by the councilors showed that scooter riders were most likely to be ticketed on Civic Boulevard Sec 3, where police issued 8,836 tickets to scooter riders between January and last month, followed by Chengde Road Sec 2 and Zhongzheng Road.
Most of the tickets were issued for speeding violations or driving in car-only lanes, the division said.
IMPROVEMENTS
“The city government should put more effort into improving the traffic situation around those roads, rather than just writing tickets to scooter drivers and taking money from them,” Chien said.
Lee also challenged the bonus system, which rewards traffic cops according to the number of tickets they issue.
Lee said the city should focus more on road inspections and improving the design of traffic signs and lanes.
The division said it had given more warnings to drivers, adding that the number of tickets issued to scooter drivers had dropped from 650,000 last year to 470,000 this year.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
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The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
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