A candidate for the mayoral seat of Miaoli City died on Wednesday night after her car was involved in a collision at an intersection. Police are investigating the details and cause of the accident.
The victim was Tsou Yu-mei (鄒玉梅), 57, one of two Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates contesting the mayoral race for Miaoli City.
According to a preliminary police report, Tsou was riding in a car driven by her son Yang Ming-yai (楊明燁) sometime after 7pm on Wednesday, as they headed to a KMT campaign organization meeting.
While making a left turn at an intersection, their car was hit at high speed by a minivan that was going straight through the intersection, the report said.
Sitting on the passenger side next to the driver, where the collision hit with the most impact, Tsou suffered multiple injuries to her head and body. After extracting her from the wreckage, rescue workers rushed the unconscious Tsou to Dachien Hospital in Miaoli City, police said.
Despite emergency medical procedures, Tsou was pronounced dead at about 9:15pm, the hospital said.
Yang suffered only minor injuries and was released after treatment.
On learning of the accident, Tsou and Yang’s family members and relatives went to the hospital.
They were joined by Tsou’s campaign supporters and local party officials, including Liu Ming-jen (劉明仁), head of the KMT’s Miaoli County party executive committee, along with top aides of KMT Miaoli County commissioner candidate Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌).
After reviewing traffic surveillance video footage of the intersection, police reported that Tsou’s car had been making a left turn from Guohua Road to Yingtsai Road when it was hit by the minivan, driven by a man surnamed Chang, who was going straight on Guohua Road through the intersection.
A police spokesperson said Tsou’s car made an illegal left-hand turn from the outer lane into Yingtsai Road by crossing the medium and inner lanes of Guohua Road at the intersection.
The spokesperson also said the car did not wait for the traffic light’s left-turn signal.
Chang, 23, driver of the minivan, told the police he was going straight through on the green light, which was confirmed by the recording video, as his vehicle emerged after going through the railway underpass on Yingtsai Road.
“It all happened too quickly. I had no idea how my vehicle collided with that car,” Chang said.
However, police said Chang’s vehicle was speeding through the intersection, so both drivers allegedly bore responsibility for the fatal accident.
The police are gathering more evidence and questioning witnesses to verify details of the accident. Both drivers said they had not been drinking and passed Breathalyzer tests.
Local residents said they had known it was a dangerous junction, because cars emerge from Yingtsai Road’s railway underpass with little time to react to oncoming traffic at the intersection, which is especially dangerous if cars are speeding, with reduced visibility at night.
Tsou, a KMT member of the Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council, was campaigning for a second mayoral term, as she was Miaoli City mayor eight years ago. She was trying to unseat Miaoli Mayor Chiu Ping-kun (邱炳坤), who is also registered as a KMT candidate.
The three-way battle for the Miaoli City mayor seat was seen as an internal KMT fight between Tsou and Chiu, who also faced a strong challenge from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chiu Chih-huang (邱其煌).
Observers said Tsou’s death would result in the race becoming a direct race between the KMT and DPP candidates.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the