The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is scheduled to propose an amendment to the Regulations on Establishing Traffic Signs and Indicating Lines (道路交通標誌標線號誌設置規則) to unify the colors of road lanes designated for different uses, which differ from region to region.
Under the proposed amendment, which has been forwarded to all local governments to solicit their opinions, the colors of pavements for lanes dedicated to bicycles, motorcycles and pedestrians must be brick-red, blue and light-green respectively.
The proposal could be promulgated in March next year at the earliest, the ministry said.
Current regulations leave the choice of pavement colors to the discretion of city and county governments, with Taipei choosing green pavements for its bike lanes, while New Taipei City (新北市) has opted for red.
However, the color green is also used to represent pedestrian lanes in Taipei, resulting in frequent confusion.
Department of Railways and Highways section chief Wu Wen-yi (吳文益) said the ministry’s decision to adopt uniform pavement colors was made in late September.
“The amendment, if passed by the legislature, does not mandate [city and county governments] to use colored pavements to designate different kinds of lanes. However, they are required to refer to the regulations if they are to use colored pavements,” Wu said, adding that the new amendment also included regulations governing line markings for pedestrian lanes that were based on the design of Taipei’s sidewalks.
Lauding the unification of pavement colors, National Chiao Tung University Institute of Traffic and Transportation associate professor Huang Tai-sheng (黃台生) said that from the perspective of road traffic management, different pavement colors were like varied traffic signs that had their own idiosyncratic meanings.
Colored pavements could lose their function of helping people differentiate between various road sections and cause confusion if different administrative regions were inconsistent as to which colors they used to paint their bicycle lanes, Huang said.
Turning to the effects on safety of line-marked pedestrian lanes, which are often called into question by the public, Huang said that while line-marked sidewalks may offer less protection to pedestrians compared with cement ones, they can at least help determine who is at fault in a car accident.
Echoing Huang’s opinions, Taipei City Government Traffic Engineering Office director Chen Hsueh-tai (陳學台) said that although most of the city’s 110 line-marked pedestrian lanes were set up in narrow alleys, they could undoubtedly provide a certain level of protection for road users.
Chen said the office supported the ministry’s proposed plan and would change the city’s pavement colors in accordance with the new amendment after it was stipulated.
New Taipei City Traffic Control and Engineering Division director Su Hsien-chih (蘇先知) said the city would make any changes necessary under the proposed amendment.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
RSS