Signs at toll booths unclear
PFP Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) is quite correct when he says the existing sign posts at the freeway toll booths are unclear ("Traffic Plan Creates Friction" July 23, page 2). Not only are they unclear for native speakers of Chinese, but pity us foreigners: the signs are in Chinese only, a fact that your news article neglected to mention.
I recently had occasion to drive from Taitung to Chiayi. Since I hardly ever drive on the freeway, I'm not familiar with the system. At my first toll booth, I had no idea which lane was for cash, so I chose one at random and it was wrong. I was forced to park my car on the freeway and walk across several lanes of moving traffic to pay my toll, get a receipt, and walk back. This was extremely dangerous! And from Aug. 1, drivers will be fined NT$3,000 for getting in the wrong lane -- I can just picture the chaos as drivers and police stand in the middle of the freeway arguing about the visibility or otherwise of the sign, and I wonder how many will get injured or even killed as a result. Only Taiwan could come up with a system like this.
The Ministry of Transportation says it wants to encourage everyone to use the pre-paid ticket books, because this expedites the toll-paying process. Fine. The sensible solution is apparent to anyone with an IQ over 40 -- charge NT$50 to those who pay cash, NT$40 to those who buy the pre-paid ticket books, and let drivers use any lane they wish to pay their toll. The NT$10 "fine" that cash users have to pay should be incentive enough to encourage most drivers to buy the ticket books. Of course, such a system will only work if the government bothers to tell anyone. But don't count on that either: the government frequently adopts new rules without bothering to inform the public.
But I can't help but wonder. For over a decade, US toll-roads have had a system of pre-paid magnetic cards. The card is fastened someplace on the car, and as you drive through the toll-booth, it is automatically debited. It is not even necessary for the driver to stop. With such a system, Taiwan could abort the practice of cancelling freeway tolls during major public holidays to prevent traffic jams, a practices which loses it considerable revenues. With such magnetic cards, the toll-booths could remain functioning at all times. Surely "high-tech" Taiwan can manage this technology.
Robert Storey
Taitung
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