The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday said it would continue reviewing the rules governing custom cars with other government agencies, adding that car and motorcycle owners must still follow the Road Traffic Safety Rules (道路交通安全規則) regarding modifications.
The statement came after netizens on the public policy civic participation forum established by the National Developmental Council petitioned the government to set out new regulations on custom cars.
Petitioners cited a case in which a heavy motorcycle rider was fined during a roadside inspection for illegally modifying the bike’s exhaust pipe, the ministry said.
Although the owner said he had not tampered with the pipe, he was given a ticket, as the police could not verify if it was already installed when the owner purchased the vehicle, they said.
The absence of regulations has caused the unrestricted sale of illegal exhaust pipes, which are then purchased by innocent people, the netizens said, adding that the police or civil servants in charge of modified cars should be taught to identify illegal modifications.
The ministry said it would continue reviewing all traffic regulations related to customization with other agencies to see whether any changes are necessary.
Legislation does not ban modifications, but requires that they follow the rules, the ministry added..
“The ministry not only has to protect the safety of drivers and passengers, but also that of other road users and even people not using the road,” the ministry said, adding that following the laws on modifications ensures that owners can drive home safely and gain recognition from others.
The regulations governing modifications are listed in Articles 23 and 23-1 as well as Appendix 15 of the Road Traffic Safety Rules, which stipulate the parts of motor vehicles that must pass annual inspections at MOTC motor vehicles offices, the ministry said.
The rules also ban owners from tampering with steering wheels, transmission systems, brakes, suspension systems and engines, or installing extra lights, it added.
The regulations were drawn up after reviewing similar regulations in Japan, Singapore and other countries, and after considering the traffic in Taiwan, the ministry said.
Minivan owners are allowed to add decorations to the front of their vehicles and to modify the sheet metal on the sides, provided that they pass inspections, it added.
The Directorate-General of Highways on July 6 convened its first meeting to hear opinions on the petition filed through the platform.
Motor vehicle safety is not just the ministry’s responsibility — the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, for example, requires that seatbelts, tire rims, booster seats and other items pass inspections or certifications before they can be sold to the public, the MOTC said.
The use of other imported or domestically produced components must also meet regulations on transportation and noise control, it added.
The Environmental Protection Administration is in the process of amending the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法), which is tp require that certified exhaust pipes be branded for quick identification by inspectors, the ministry said.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
When Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) was wooing leaders from across Africa with a banquet on Wednesday night, King Mswati III of Eswatini was notably absent. That is because the kingdom — about the size of New Jersey and with just 1.2 million people — is one of Taiwan’s remaining dozen diplomatic allies. That means Eswatini does not participate in Xi’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the centerpiece of China’s diplomatic outreach to Africa, which was held in Beijing this week. The landlocked nation, which sits between Mozambique and South Africa, is the last holdout in Beijing’s seven-plus decade mission to make Africa
RSS