The Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday that increased police crackdowns and better law enforcement since July have resulted in a nationwide decline in the death toll from accidents involving gravel trucks.
Six months after reforms to regulations governing gravel trucks and drivers took effect, the ministry's road safety committee announced the success of the implementation of the measures.
According to the report, around 296,700 infringements involving gravel trucks were recorded from July 1999 until December 1999. This represents about 49,000 a month, or a 39 percent increase over the first half of the year. Major violations such as speeding and overloading account for around 34,000 a month, or a 30 percent increase over the first half of the year.
Violations resulting in fatal traffic accidents numbered five per month, three deaths less per month than the first half of the year. Non-fatal injuries averaged three a month, just one third of those reported prior to reforms.
The improvement comes after years of traffic problems with the large trucks, whose drivers tended to show little respect for either the law or peoples' lives.
Jason Chang (
"We often see good plans, but many reforms are not policed thoroughly enough or for long enough," Chang said. "[The gravel truck industry] has to understand that it must pay the price if drivers break the law."
The report also found that some cities and counties appeared to be safer than others, as gauged by fewer gravel truck accidents. They include Kaohsiung City, Hsinchu City, Chiayi City and Hsinchu and Penghu counties.
Keelung City and Ilan and Chiayi counties are among the most dangerous places as measured by the same criteria.
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