The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is mulling a trial project that would allow scooter riders to turn off their engines when waiting at traffic lights for more than 100 seconds in a bid to reduce emissions and associated health risks.
EPA officials yesterday said that studies have shown that scooter riders who wait at traffic lights for 60 seconds or 90 seconds are exposed to four times and nine times more carbon monoxide respectively than a 30-second wait.
A similar exposure pattern could be applied to PM2.5 — fine particulate matter measuring 25 micrometers in diameter or less — which vehicles of all kinds, including scooters and cars, produce, and which accounts for 20 percent of the nation’s total PM2.5 pollution, Department of Air Quality and Noise Control Director-General Chen Hsien-heng (陳咸亨) said.
The EPA in 2012 drafted regulations that limited the time a vehicle could spend idling to no more than three minutes at a time, with those who fail to turn off their engine subject to a fine.
Now it is considering a trial program at major road sections where wait times are more than 100 seconds, Chen said.
However, scooter riders who do not turn off their engines would not be fined, Chen said.
Waiting at traffic lights and getting stuck in traffic jams account for 30 percent of a scooter driver’s travel time, and a total of 2,800 tonnes of carbon monoxide and 35,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide could be reduced if a national regulation is enacted that requires scooter engines to be turned off while waiting in traffic, Chen said.
However, People First Party Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) criticized the proposal, saying the agency is “bullying” scooter riders and it should target trucks and tour buses first because they emit 20 times to 30 times more pollutants than scooters.
“Scooters were selected because scooter drivers are more exposed to vehicle exhaust fumesthan car drivers and because cars have a more negative impact on traffic if they fail to restart,” Chen said.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
RSS