Authorities are urging people to take it easy during overnight celebrations and to refrain from drinking and driving, due to a spate of traffic accidents resulting in at least five deaths and more than 30 injuries over the past few days.
Police reported 25 road accidents on New Year’s Day, with most involving revelers returning home from New Year’s Eve events or joining groups to welcome the first sunrise of the year.
Most accidents yesterday were likely due to fatigue and drivers falling asleep after staying up all night without resting, while others were due to drunk driving, police said.
The most serious case was in Hsinchu County, where a white sedan carrying five people slammed into a roadside concrete pillar on Provincial Highway No. 3 at about 7am on Thursday morning.
Two people were killed and three injured in the accident, including the driver, a young man surnamed Peng (彭). The group, three men and two women, had been to a New Year’s Eve celebration and then continued partying at a KTV.
In Keelung, a 16-year-old surnamed Kuo (郭) was killed when his motorcycle crashed into a lane divider shortly after 7am on New Year’s Day.
Kuo’s girlfriend, riding on the back, sustained injuries. She said they joined a group of friends for a New Year’s Eve celebration and that the partying continued into the morning. She and Kuo were riding the motorcycle on their way home.
In Greater Kaohsiung, a 21-year-old man told his family he was going to an outdoor BBQ party for New Year’s Eve, but did not return home. After a search, he was found dead in the driver’s seat of his car on Thursday morning at about 8am; his car had smashed into a tree.
In Kenting National Park, a 20-year-old woman surnamed Fu (傅) was killed on Thursday morning after the motorcycle she was riding with her boyfriend hit a lane divider.
Fu perished despite the efforts of medical personnel and her boyfriend was still in the emergency ward at a local hospital with a brain hemorrhage.
Another fatal accident occurred in Penghu County yesterday morning, when a navy lieutenant surnamed Kuo (郭), 29, was killed when his car collided with a roadside barrier and the vehicle caught fire.
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