Stricter fines will be imposed on speeding motorists while some low-income drivers will be allowed to pay their penalties in installments, according to a basket of legal revisions to the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Law (道路交通管理處罰條例) the Executive Yuan is scheduled to approve on Wednesday.
Under the changes, motorists would also be allowed to install electronic devices to detect speed traps.
"Speeders will be seen as seriously violating the traffic code because they're running a devil of a risk, putting other people's life on the line and also their own," said a Cabinet official who asked not to be named.
Currently, motorists breaking the speed limit are subject to a fine of between NT$1,200 and NT$2,400.
The revisions, if passed, will put the punishment for speeding motorists on par with the penalty for reckless driving.
According to the traffic laws, reckless motorists or those removing their mufflers are subject to a fine of between NT$6,000 and NT$24,000.
If the speeding involves two or more persons, a fine of between NT$30,000 and NT$90,000 is imposed on each of the motorists. On top of the fine, the driver's license would be revoked.
Although the revisions will increase penalties on motorists caught speeding, some low-income offenders will enjoy more leeway when paying their fines.
Under the revisions, motorists in financial difficulties resulting from natural disasters or property losses would be eligible to pay their fines in installments.
Motorists are required to pay their traffic fines within 15 days of getting the ticket.
Violators can have the traffic penalty doubled, their car registration suspended or driver's license revoked.
While traffic regulations impose a fine of between NT$1,200 and NT$2,400 on motorists installing equipment to detect radar devices and mandates the confiscation of such equipment, the revisions will abolish such a punishment.
The reason behind it, the official said, is to take into account the prevalence of advanced high-tech devices installed in motor vehicles such as satellite global-positioning systems.
The revisions would also specify that only those setting up vending booths on public roads that hinder the traffic flow and people would receive punishment.
"In other words, those who obstruct traffic or pedestrian flow outside the public road areas would be spared because they would fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior," the official said.
The traffic code mandates that unauthorized individuals installing vending booths or drying belongings on public roads and refusing to move them are liable to a fine of between NT$300 and NT$600.
Also included in the revisions, amendments to 32 articles of the traffic law, are regulations to restrict holders of automobile driver's licenses from riding small motorbikes or scooters, and to relax the regulations for life-long driver's license bans.
People holding an automobile driver's license that are caught riding a motorcycle or scooter with an engine size smaller than 50cc would be fined between NT$1,800 and NT$3,600.
At present, drivers causing someone's death because of driving while intoxicated or under the influence of illegal drugs can be banned from obtaining a driver's license for life. The revisions will reduce the sentence to a 12-year suspension of their driver's license.
The fine for making a right-turn on a red light would not be halved as originally proposed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications but instead would remain the same.
The fine for running a red light ranges from NT$1,800 to NT$5,400.
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