To deter drunk driving, the Ministry of Justice has proposed that people who drive drunk repeatedly be detained for one to three days at police stations.
The ministry suggested an amendment to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) proposing that police could apply to a court to detain repeat offenders for a period of between one to three days.
The current law stipulates that drivers be fined between NT$15,000 and NT$60,000 if their blood alcohol content is found to be between 0.25 and 0.54 parts per million (ppm). The law also requires drunk drivers to face criminal charges if their blood alcohol content registers higher than 0.54ppm.
According to a poll conducted and released by Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday, 85 percent of respondents agree with the proposed detention for repeat drunk drivers.
This was the second amendment that the ministry has proposed in a week seeking stiffer punishments for drunk drivers in an effort to address a public outcry following a number of fatal accidents caused by drunk drivers.
The ministry’s first proposed amendments sought specifically to punish drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents more harshly. The ministry said that if the amendments were adopted, drunk drivers who hit and kill a person would face a prison term of between three and 10 years, with no possibility of commuting the sentence to probation or a fine.
For drunk drivers not involved in a deadly accident, the new penalty for driving under the influence would be between two months and two years and the sentences also could not be commuted, the ministry proposed.
Meanwhile, Taipei police yesterday announced their determination to clamp down on drunk driving, saying they would be dedicating more time to policing the roads and would be giving more random roadside sobriety tests, even during daytime.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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