The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) should allow people decide whether they want anti-locking braking system (ABS) or combined braking system (CBS) installed on their motorbikes, the legislature’s Transportation Committee said yesterday.
Although the ministry said that the measure aims to curb casualties in traffic accidents involving motorbikes and is congruent with the safety guidelines stipulated by the UN Economic Commission for Europe, many people complained of the extra cost the systems would bring.
The ministry on Tuesday relented by saying that it would temporarily halt the implementation of a policy requiring all new motorbikes to have ABS or CBS installed by 2021, including new motorbikes manufactured before next year, after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) asked the agency to reassess the policy following public complaints.
However, all new motorbikes produced from Jan. 1 must still be equipped with ABS or CBS, the ministry said.
The issue was scrutinized by the committee, which was supposed to review the budget for Taoyuan International Airport Corp and Taiwan Railways Administration for next year.
The committee passed a resolution proposed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲), Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) and Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) that the ministry should let riders decide whether they want the systems installed on their motorbikes, adding that they can make the decision after considering their driving habits, road conditions and safety requirements.
Many Taiwanese, particularly financially disadvantaged people, ride motorbikes to work or to conduct business, they said, adding that the ministry should reconsider the direction of the policy to meet the public’s expectation.
The committee in another resolution said that the ministry should offer subsidies to students paying student loans when purchasing motorbikes equipped with ABS and work with motorbike manufacturers to offer discounts.
It should also confer with other government agencies about the possibility of lowering vehicle liability insurance premiums for people buying ABS-equipped motorbikes, the commission said.
Based on the safety inspection standards that the ministry announced in 2015, new motorbikes with an engine displacement of 126 cubic centimeters (cc) or larger that are produced from next year must be equipped with ABS, while 125cc or smaller must be equipped with ABS or CBS.
The standards only apply to new motorbikes and do not apply to motorbikes that are already in use, Acting Minister of Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said on Monday, adding that only about 15 percent of the new motorbikes sold next year would be equipped with ABS or CBS.
People are not required to buy motorbikes with ABS or CBS, he said.
Motorbikes equipped with ABS and CBS are expected to cost an additional NT$8,000 and NT$1,500 respectively, Wang said.
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai