Two Control Yuan members have started a study on whether the government’s road traffic safety improvement program could help reduce the number of traffic deaths and accidents.
Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲) and Chang Wu-shou (張武修) are examining a goal the Ministry of Transportation and Communications set last year to reduce the number of deaths that occur within 30 days of a road accident.
The ministry aims to see the figure drop to 2,500 by next year, compared with 3,000 last year.
The ministry has also set a goal of reducing the number of fatalities among motorcyclists in the 18-24 age group from 400 a year to 250 next year, which is something the Control Yuan will also examine.
To achieve its goals, the ministry last year introduced a series of measures, including stricter driver’s license requirements, recruitment of non-governmental organizations and volunteers to provide traffic education and more rigid enforcement of traffic laws.
The number of people killed or injured in road accidents over the past four years exceeded 400,000 per year, Wang and Chang said.
The number of traffic deaths that occurred within 30 days of an accident was 2,877 in 2016, which translated into nearly eight deaths per day, they said, citing ministry data.
The data also showed that the social cost of each road fatality is about NT$16 million (US$549,809) and about NT$1 million for each traffic-related injury, said Wang, a former Taipei City Government staffer.
It is therefore worth exploring whether the measures put in place by the ministry and other government agencies could help reduce traffic-related fatalities, he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it