The “child safety seat” and “silent buckle” — used to quieten car seatbelt alarms — are popular products. Manufacturers even boast of such products having passed national standard inspections.
The only problem? While the products may not be illegal per se, using them certainly is.
According to the Road Traffic Security Rules (道路交通安全規則), bicycles are barred from carrying passengers, and violators could face a fine of between NT$300 and NT$600, an official with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Department of Railways and Highways said. However, in practice the police do not ticket violators and the public flouts the rules.
Photo: Tseng Hung-ju, Taipei Times
The legal authorities are at an even greater loss when it comes to disciplining the manufacturers of such unsafe products. They have their hands tied because of a lack of relevant regulations.
In the meantime, large numbers of parents continue to take their children to school or on outings in the safety seat, and are no doubt reassured that the seat has cleared a quality inspection.
Meanwhile, demand is rising for the “silent buckle,” retailers said.
In August last year the ministry made it compulsory for backseat passengers to buckle up, in a bid to reduce the death toll from road accidents.
A decade ago, the ministry made it compulsory for front-seat passengers to wear seat belts, and then decreed that automobile manufacturers must equip cars with a seat-belt reminder light or some kind of warning alarm, activated by a pressure sensor under the passenger seat, to persuade people to belt up.
However, by plugging in the silent buckle the seatbelt alarm is disabled and the annoying alarm tone, that would otherwise force passengers into buckling up, goes silent. Priced between NT$100 and NT$200, a driver can purchase a dozen of the devices for less than the price of a traffic ticket.
With the latest legislation requiring back-seat passengers to buckle up, sales volumes have increased by at least 30 percent, auto parts retailers said, adding that they have been busy replenishing their stocks to meet the growing demand.
Lin Fu-shan (林福山), head of the ministry’s Department of Railways and Highways’ supervision section, said the two products are in clear violation of the regulations, but there is no law to penalize producers of the illegal products.
Lin said that installing child safety seats on bikes is against regulations, but is mostly considered a trivial offense and is not reported. Violators usually only receive a warning instead of being fined, he said.
Translated by Stacy Hsu, Staff Writer
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS