The National Freeway Bureau yesterday said that it is soon to use data gathered through the electronic toll collection (ETC) system to help it forecast traffic on freeway sections prone to accidents and to enforce road maintenance work more efficiently.
Bureau Deputy Director-General Wu Mu-fu (吳木富) said that eTags, a device that allows drivers to pay their toll fees when driving on freeways, are now installed in more than 6 million vehicles nationwide, accounting for about 80 percent of all vehicles.
More than 14 million transactions are recorded by ETC gantries each day, he added.
Wu said that data analysis would enable the bureau to better understand the driving habits of freeway users and the types of traffic violations they commit.
“We would also look at weather information, the layout of routes and traffic reports. By combining such data, we would be able to forecast more accurately when and where traffic accidents might occur,” he said.
The National Highway Police Bureau often attributes the cause of an accident to a single factor, Wu said, adding that accidents could happen due to multiple reasons, including a vehicle’s condition, driving habits of freeway users and other external factors.
Identifying potential risk factors would help law enforcement to take preventative measures to reduce the occurrence of traffic accidents, he said.
As an example, Wu said that if certain freeway sections are found to have a high rate of collisions on rainy days, the highway police would be able to warn drivers in advance before they drive through such sections.
Police could increase patrols in such sections to lower the probability of accidents, he added.
Wu said that the ETC gantries record the number of vehicles that pass such checkpoints, as well as the time and traffic lanes cars are in, adding that data analysis would enable the bureau to assess traffic volume in each section as well as the percentage of large motor vehicles at different times of the day.
“This information would let us know the road sections that are more frequently used than others, and our road maintenance staff could begin work on road surfaces in such sections after inspection,” he said.
Drivers would also be able to upload information on freeway surfaces through the bureau’s mobile application, Wu said, adding that the bureau is considering allowing people who share information via the app a discount on toll fees.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
RSS