In an effort to crack down on drunk driving next year, a greater focus is to be put on drivers aged 18 to 24, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-jong (祁文中) said yesterday.
The government will show zero tolerance for drunk driving instead of just trying to reduce the casualties that result from it, Chi said during a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee in Taipei.
The ministry also intends to implement measures to discourage motorists from driving under the influence of alcohol, Chi said.
For example, the number of hours of correctional classes that those convicted of drunk driving would be required to attend is to be raised from four hours to six, while repeat offenders would have to take 12 hours of classes, instead of six.
According to the National Police Agency, there were 96,676 drunk driving cases in the first 11 months of this year, compared with 100,079 during the same period last year.
A total of 94 lives were lost in traffic accidents related to drunk driving during the 11-month period, 38 fewer than in the same period of last year.
At the legislative meeting, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) proposed amending the Act Governing Punishments for Violations of Road Traffic Regulations (道路交通管理處罰條例) in the next legislative session to stipulate that drunk drivers must help clean the bodies of people killed as a result of them driving under the influence, with consent from the victims’ families.
DPP Legislator Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) also proposed that civil servants caught drunk driving should be referred to the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries for punishment.
Currently, with the exception of police officers, civil servant offenders are not always given that punishment, Cheng said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) said the ministry would schedule discussions among related authorities about the proposed measure.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS