The legislature’s Transportation Committee on Monday approved proposed amendments that would allow members of the public to report five types of traffic offenses, down from 13 previously.
Rules on the reporting of traffic offenses have received widespread criticism from professional drivers who say they are too strict and advocates of pedestrians’ rights who say they are not strict enough.
Under the proposed amendment, offenses that could be reported are not wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle, parking in spaces designated for disabled drivers without a permit, parking against the flow of traffic, parking on sidewalks and parking on pedestrian crossings. These are all minor infractions with fines of NT$1,800 or less, and public reporting is unlikely to act as a deterrent.
However, it would result in a surge of busywork for officers whose time would be best spent on enforcement.
Focusing on such minor offenses also overlooks more serious unsafe driving practices that occur with frightening regularity in Taiwan, such as failure to yield at unmarked intersections, not stopping at crosswalks for pedestrians, running red lights, speeding and changing lanes without signaling, just to name a few examples.
Driving under the influence of alcohol is also a serious problem, yet checkstops are conducted irregularly and often at predictable times such as holidays.
The Legislative Yuan on Dec. 1 last year enacted the Road Traffic Safety Basic Act (道路交通安全基本法), which requires a panel of experts and heads of local governments to compile a traffic safety report.
Prior to that, the Executive Yuan on May 25 approved a pedestrian safety program and announced funding of NT$66.48 billion (US$2.05 billion) to improve road safety.
The government seems to be overcomplicating the matter while overlooking the obvious.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications in recent years has increasingly relied on traffic cameras and public reporting to tackle traffic contraventions. Clearly, that is not working.
Last year Taiwan saw a small year-on-year decrease in the number of fatal crashes, but still recorded nearly 3,000 traffic-related deaths.
Directorate-General of Highways Director Chen Wen-juei (陳文瑞) in May last year said the agency would crack down on repeat traffic offenders, such as requiring frequent renewals of their driver’s licenses.
This is a good proposal, but offenders can only be required to renew their licenses if they are caught — and that seems unlikely if authorities are to continue relying on cameras to do their work for them.
In the US there are roughly 20 million traffic stops carried out each year. Meanwhile, in Canada, 1,200 Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers are specifically tasked with managing traffic stops, while provincial and municipal police also enforce traffic laws.
In Taiwan, police vehicles are a much less common sight on the streets, and they are rarely seen pulling people over even when blatant traffic contraventions are taking place in front of them.
The roads in Taiwan will only become safer if the government does more to improve driver education and licensing, and strictly enforces regulations with boots on the ground. Cameras cannot replace routine traffic stops.
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