The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled draft legislation for the planned national transportation safety council, which is expected to be formed next year at the earliest.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) approved the bills at a meeting, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka told a news conference in Taipei.
One bill seeks to change the name of the Organizational Act of the Aviation Safety Council (飛航安全調查委員會組織法) to the organizational act of the national transportation safety council and outlines what the proposed council’s purview would be and how it would be staffed.
Photo: CNA
To complement the bill, a draft amendment to the Aviation Occurrence Investigation Act (飛航事故調查法) was also introduced, which seeks to rename the act to transportation occurrence investigation act and recommends an investigation procedure for major rail, air or marine accidents.
The bills were drafted in the wake of the derailment of Puyuma Express No. 6432 in Yilan County on Oct. 21, in which 18 people were killed and more than 200 were injured, Kolas said, adding that they are part of the premier’s promise to the public to create an impartial and professional body capable of independently probing major transportation accidents.
The council would be modeled after the Japan Transport Safety Board and the US National Transportation Safety Board by expanding the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) to include experts on rail, marine and air transportation safety, she said.
Lai said the bills would be delivered to the Legislative Yuan for review and instructed the Aviation Safety Council and the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics to communicate extensively with the four legislative caucuses in the hope that they would soon be passed, Kolas said.
The proposed council would require about 100 staff members, including the 23 full-time ASC personnel, who are expected to be incorporated into it, ASC Chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) said.
The proposed council would employ experts specializing in all types of rail transportation systems, as well as experts in highway, sea and river transportation, Young said.
Asked what the bills’ definition of “major” transportation incidents would be, he said the question would have to be answered after the ASC and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications iron out the details.
The council could be created next year at the earliest, while it would take another two years for it to recruit specialists in all of the transportation fields, Young said.
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
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
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
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
RSS