The National Freeway Bureau’s (NFB) decision to raise the speed limit inside the Hsuehshan Tunnel (雪山隧道) has reportedly had some success in easing traffic congestion on Freeway No. 5, with the bureau reporting yesterday that the decision had helped increase the average driving speed by between 3kph and 6kph in both the northbound and southbound lanes.
Kang Jhy-fu (康志福), director of the bureau’s traffic management department, said the decision had also been proven effective in raising the freeway’s capacity during high-volume hours.
The average traffic volume between 1pm and 8pm on Sunday, when many people are returning home, has risen from 2,343 motorized vehicles per hour to 2,479 per hour, a 5.8 percent increase, he said.
To ease congestion on Freeway No. 5 during holidays, the bureau raised the speed limit for vehicles driving inside Hsuehshan Tunnel — the longest tunnel on the freeway — from 80kph to 90kph, a decision that went into effect on Nov. 1.
However, when the bureau first made the announcement earlier this year, some people expressed concern that the decision would increase the risks of accidents on the freeway.
Statistics from the bureau show the new policy drastically reduced the number of speeding violations from 152 in October to 58 last month.
However, after the new policy came into force, the bureau found that more motorists swerved between lanes and failed to keeping a safe driving distance between vehicles.
The bureau kept the speed limit inside the tunnel at 70kph when the tunnel was first opened to traffic in 2006 because of fire safety concerns. That policy sparked complaints from motorists, forcing the bureau to raise the speed limit to 80kph in 2008.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as