An average of eight people died every day last year in traffic accidents, Ministry of Transportation and Communications statistics showed yesterday.
The ministry unveiled the figures at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, where ministry officials were scheduled to brief lawmakers about the nation’s progress in keeping its roads safe for all users.
Although the number of people killed in traffic accidents fell from 3,219 in 2012 to 2,865 last year, the figure still came to an average of eight fatalities per day, the ministry said.
The number of elderly and young people killed in traffic accidents has been increasing, it said.
Last year, 457,382 people were killed or injured in traffic accidents, which resulted in estimated social cost of more than NT$500 billion (US$16.5 billion), the ministry said.
Forty percent of those killed in traffic accidents were seniors, half of whom were killed while riding motorcycles, the ministry said.
Elderly people also made up 70 percent of victims killed in traffic accidents involving pedestrians, it said.
The number of victims in the 18-to-24 age group rose 14.1 percent from 2018, it added.
However, the number of drunk-driving cases dropped from 6,658 in 2015 to 4,069 last year, following the enforcement of new regulations against drunk driving in July, the ministry said, adding that the number of drunk-driving victims last year also fell by 23 from 2018.
The ministry said that it is holding information sessions in communities to raise safety awareness in a bid to reduce the number of elderly people killed in traffic accidents.
It has also allocated additional funds to improve pedestrian facilities, such as improving the design of intersections and roads that are identified as hotspots for accidents, installing larger signals for pedestrians and increasing the time given to pedestrians to cross the street at traffic lights.
To better serve seniors living in remote areas, the ministry said that it is designing a demand responsive transportation system, which would include taxis in the public transport system.
The ministry also said that the Ministry of Education has agreed to incorporate road safety education as part of the curriculum in elementary, junior-high and senior-high schools in a bid to lower the number of young people killed in traffic accidents.
The Control Yuan last year censured the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) for failing to properly regulate drivers aged 75 years or older.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said that the nation has about 320,000 senior drivers who are not obligated to renew their driver’s license, adding that the transport ministry is evaluating the necessity of doing so.
DGH Director-General Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯) said that the agency is formulating a new policy to manage senior drivers, based on a study by the Institute of Transportation, which is to be published in August.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS