A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker yesterday urged the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to set a ceiling on the number of traffic contraventions members of the public can report per day.
At a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee, DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said that in New Taipei City, two people each reported 8,000 traffic infringements in a year.
Another Taipei resident reported 7,779 traffic contraventions in a year, she said.
Some of the reports did not have definite proof and at best offered unclear photographs, Yeh said.
While people are not required to verify the information or provide formal written reports when reporting traffic infringements, police officers must review all of them, she said, adding that due to the huge number of reports police departments are receiving, every Taipei police officer must review 6,000 such reports on average.
One officer even developed macular degeneration after spending long periods handling such reports and had to leave his section, Yeh said.
Much of the evidence collected for the reports involves car drivers being stalked, which is an invasion of their privacy, she said, adding that even police officers cannot collect evidence for traffic contraventions in that manner.
Most of the reported cases are about illegal parking, running a red light or crossing double white lines, Yeh said.
Considering those infringements do not cause immediate danger to the public, but affect police officer’s work, the ministry should set a ceiling on the number of traffic contraventions a person can report per day, she said.
For example, it could limit reports to one per day per person, Yeh said.
Department of Railways and Highways Director-General Chen Wen-juei (陳文瑞) said that the government had designed the reporting system hoping that reports from the public would help the police.
In the past few years, traffic reports from the public have increased in number, he said, adding that if the reported infringements are mild, police officers do not have to handle them.
The ministry would discuss with the National Police Agency how to best handle the high number of traffic reports, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS