An inflow of traffic from Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) has caused Minquan E Road in the neighboring Songshan District (松山) to become a hot spot for severe accidents, Taipei Police Department data showed.
From January to August, police recorded 142 traffic accidents leading to death or injury along the road, making it the route with the greatest number of severe accidents in the city, the data showed.
Minquan W Road — infamous for the “waterfall” of scooters that builds up during the morning rush hour in the eastbound direction — had the second greatest number of severe traffic accidents, 138 in the January-to-August period, the data showed
The third greatest number of severe accidents occurred along Section 5 of Zhongxiao E Road, where 131 incidents happened during the first eight months of this year, it showed.
Overall, the number of traffic accidents in the city involving scooters was greater during the eight-month period than it was during the same period last year, the data showed.
A total of 17,916 incidents were recorded, compared with 15,798 incidents over the same period last year. As a result of those incidents, more than 18,000 people sustained injuries — some fatal, the data showed.
During rush hour, many Neihu residents cross Minquan Bridge toward Songshan District, which causes a bottleneck for traffic and leads to accidents, said a researcher from National Chiao Tung University, who asked not to be named.
Similarly, Taipei Bridge in the morning rush hour becomes as a bottleneck for traffic entering Taipei from the western side of New Taipei City, the researcher said.
Of those injured or killed in scooter accidents in the first eight months of the year, 5,900 — or 33 percent of the total — were aged 18 to 25, the data showed.
“Many young people ride scooters at an excessive speed, even though they lack experience. In many cases, younger riders make sudden turns without using turn signals and end up crashing into someone,” the researcher said.
The top three causes of traffic accidents are failure on part of the riders to pay attention to the road, failure to yield to other motorists as required by traffic laws and improper lane changes, the researcher said.
“Riders should maintain a safe distance from cars. Riders in Taipei are often too close to the cars in front of them and have no time to react to sudden situations,” Taipei Police Traffic Division Captain Lin Kuang-hsien (林洸賢) said.
Lin urged riders to use turn signals at all times and to use their mirrors to pay attention to the traffic behind them when making turns and lane changes.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
RSS