Greater Kaohsiung has led the national list for three straight years for having the most fatalities resulting from traffic accidents involving drunk drivers, police data showed.
The total number of people killed nationwide in drunk driving-related accidents fell from about 500 five years ago to 376 last year.
However, data from the NPA showed Greater Kaohsiung bucking the national trend with a rise in fatalities, along with Hsinchu and Yunlin counties, which saw increases of nine and eight fatalities respectively over the five-year period.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Several other cities and municipalities also saw increases in such deaths over the past few years.
Nationwide deaths caused by driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) over the past five years stood at 2,131, according to statistics released this week by the National Police Agency (NPA).
In Kaohsiung, 66 fatalities were caused by drinking and driving last year, 13 more than five years ago, and accounting for 17 percent of the national total.
In 2010, there were 60 such deaths in Kaohsiung, with 66 similar cases in 2011, meaning the region had the greatest number of fatalities resulting from accidents involving drunk drivers for three years in a row.
Greater Taichung reported 47 DUI deaths last year, with a total of 249 deaths in the past five years, making it the second-most dangerous city.
Taoyuan County reported 154 people killed as a result of drunk driving in the past five years.
On a positive note, Greater Taichung and Taoyuan County saw their overall numbers of DUI deaths decrease by 21 and 12 respectively compared with five years ago.
Areas with more than 100 drunk driving-related deaths in the past five years were New Taipei City (新北市) with 146, Pingtung County with 134, Yunlin County with 117, Greater Tainan with 111, Miaoli County with 109, Hsinchu County with 105 and Changhua County with 104.
In Taipei, eight people died last year in drunk driving-related accidents, with less than 10 deaths reported in such accidents in each of the past five years.
Other areas reporting decreases were Pingtung County, with 15 such deaths last year, down 31 over the past five years, and Yilan County, which had 11 deaths last year, a fall of 22 over five years.
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