People First Party Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) on Saturday blasted traffic authorities for improperly placed and hidden speed detectors, which she said “rob motorists of their money.”
At a press conference at the legislature, Chen said speed-monitoring equipment should be a preventative measure that reminds motorists not to speed, not an attempt for the authorities to profit from them.
She singled out a detector at a 10km-stretch of road where the maximum speed drops from 120kph to just 100kph, causing motorists who do not react in time to fall prey to fines.
That one detector, which is hidden behind a road sign between Tuchen (土城) and Jhonghe (中和) on the northbound lanes of the No. 3 Freeway, brought in about NT$60 million (US$2 million) last year from 19,909 vehicles, she said.
Outside of freeways, the most “profitable” traffic detector is installed near Taipei’s Bailing High School on Chengde Road Sec. 4. That device alone managed to net NT$38.7 million from 32,253 motorists last year, she said.
Regulations stipulate that speed detectors must be set atop a yellow-and-black-striped pole, with a warning sign to alert motorists 100m to 300m in advance, National Police Agency official Liu Chen-an (劉振安) told the press conference.
Taipei City Traffic Division deputy captain of police Lin Chi-tien (林基田) said that all 133 speed detectors and red light cameras in the city follow regulations and are adjusted each year based on traffic conditions.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard