In less than 30 minutes, the legislature's Transportation Committee passed a resolution yesterday to amend Article 31 of the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Law (道路交通規則管理處罰條例) to require everyone in a passenger car on freeways and expressways to buckle their seat belts.
If the amendment is passed by the legislature, drivers of private vehicles could be fined if they or any of their passengers, including those in the back seat, fail to fasten their seat belts before they hit the road.
At present the law only requires the driver and front-seat passengers to wear seat belts. Violators face fines of NT$1,500 if caught without a seatbelt, although the fines rise to between NT$3,000 and NT$6,000 when driving on freeways and expressways.
Since the ministry requires that vehicles manufactured after 1991 must have seat belts installed in the back seats as well as the front, the Transportation Committee decided that cars manufactured before 1991 should be exempt from the amendment.
The amendment has been supported by both legislators and government officials.
However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Yu-ting (王昱婷) suggested that passengers also be fined for not wearing their seat belts. Wang said the amount of the fine should be determined by the number of people inside the vehicle who were not wearing their seat belts, rather than a set fine that would only punish the driver.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (
The committee passed the amendment in the wake of a traffic accident on Saturday that left Shaw Hsiao-ling (
At press time yesterday, Shaw remained in intensive care in Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan.
The amendment was approved by the Procedure Committee last fall. The Transportation Committee was not scheduled to review it yesterday, but Wang proposed changing the agenda and the motion was quickly seconded by other committee members.
The amendment had been drafted by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Tsiao-long (
Chen said that he was napping in his car when his chauffeur hit an electric pole. The right side of Chen's face hit the B pillar, a shaft placed between the car door in the front and the one at the back. His right eyeball popped out of the socket, the bones around the socket were partially damaged and his upper cheek was turned inside out. He required extensive reconstructive surgery.
The committee's resolution also stated that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications would have a three-month period after the amendment was passed to promote the new policy before implementing it.
A statement by the Department of Railways and Highways said that a person is 25 times more likely to die in a traffic accident if he or she were ejected from a vehicle in rather than remaining inside.
Research by the Legislative Organic Laws and Statute Bureau last year found that the death rate of motorists not wearing seat belts was more than three times that of those wearing seat belts.
also see story:
`Apple Daily' sorry for publishing gory crash photograph
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS