Amendments to the Criminal Code and the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) were passed on Monday, stipulating stricter fines for drunk drivers and their passengers.
The changes came in response to public anger over a spate of driving under the influence (DUI) incidents resulting in fatalities.
However, lawmakers need to be cautious when amending legislation in response to public anger. There is nothing disproportionate or unreasonable in the agreed changes themselves. The question is: Are they targeting the core cause of the problem?
The maximum sentence for DUI incidents not resulting in crashes or casualties was increased from two years to three years; the maximum fine for the same was raised from NT$200,000 to NT$300,000.
The definition of a repeat offender was changed from more than one DUI offense over five years to once in 10 years. There was no change to the sentence duration for repeat offenders causing crashes leading to deaths.
Lawmakers were correct in not lengthening the prison terms for repeat offenders, as many in this group can be regarded as being non-responsive to sanctions or appeals to their better judgement. For this group, solutions other than stricter sentences are required.
Legislation related to DUI offenses has been changed several times from 2007 to last year, including four major amendments. These have seen the number of fatalities due to DUI-related incidents fall from a peak of 909 in 2011 to a low of 201 in 2015, with a slight increase to 289 in 2020.
However, the nation might have already reached the point where increasing appeals to the moral and rational mind when under the influence would have marginal benefits.
A repeat offender, by definition, is someone who has not responded in the way intended to the legal sanctions — which were already strict enough before the latest amendments — for their behavior.
On Dec. 28, comic Sung Shao-ching (宋少卿) was arrested for drunk driving, with a blood alcohol level nearly four times the legal limit. Yet only a few months earlier, in September, Sung had appeared on a TV show and admitted to having been caught for drunk driving before, and swore that he would never do it again.
On the morning after his arrest, he was exposed to a media barrage, to which he apologized profusely, and a Facebook post by the host of the TV show criticizing him. He was also dropped from TV appearances lined up for this year.
The loss of work, the public shaming and the ignominy of being openly criticized on social media should have given any celebrity pause when deciding whether to drive while under the influence, especially if they had offended previously.
However, that is the problem: Sung made the decision while under the influence. Increasing the severity of punishments for DUI amounts to asking people to make a rational judgement even though their thinking facilities are compromised.
Figures show that 70 percent of repeat DUI offenders in Taiwan have an alcohol addiction, and it is debatable whether the threat of punishment is the most efficient way to prevent them from drunk driving.
This is why the amendment requiring DUI offenders to install ignition interlock devices on their vehicles is welcome, as is the increased legal burden placed on passengers riding with drunk drivers.
However, such requirements, albeit in less stringent form, were already in place, but have simply not been enforced.
In addition to the amendments, the government must ensure that the legislation is enforced, and complemented with programs targeted at helping recidivists, or at least preventing them from getting behind the wheel when under the influence.
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