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.
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