The low safety standards set in purchasing guidelines for police cars put the lives of police officers at risk, New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said yesterday.
“Police officers face a lot of risk and danger while driving and they should be provided with additional safety equipment. However, current contract terms [for purchasing police cars] only require two airbags and a tire pressure monitoring system,” Yung told a news conference.
The terms should be changed to require four airbags, along with an electronic anti-skid system and special structural requirements, he said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The National Police Agency should also increase the number and length of driving safety courses available to on-duty officers, he said.
Automotive commentator Pang Te (龐德) said that both the airbag and tire pressure monitoring system requirements are already the minimum required for automobiles manufactured nationally, and front airbags would provide no protection in the event of a side collision.
“Even though we are instructed not to conduct chases, there are still a lot of situations where we need to drive at high speeds, make hairpin turns and run red lights, particularly when we need to get to fires or serious traffic accidents,” said Max Shih (石明謹), a traffic police officer in Taipei’s Wanhua Precinct.
The agency only budgets one day of safety training for 800 police officers every year, Shih said.
Sun Cheng-ju (孫成儒), who heads the agency’s logistical supplies section, said that budget considerations had forced the agency to forgo more advanced safety features
“Because of the government’s financial difficulties, the price we offer for a patrol car is only NT$600,000 [US$19,764], which does not attract much interest even among domestic manufacturers,” he said.
The agency this year would attempt to increase the budget to NT$800,000 per vehicle to allow for the purchase of cars with four airbags.
“Even though our requirements are very basic, local manufacturers have still given us safety equipment that meets basic safety standards, even if they cannot compare with top cars from international manufacturers,” Sun said, citing additions such as anti-lock braking and traction control systems.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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