More than half of those involved in traffic accidents leading to injury or death in Taipei over the past three years were not registered residents of the city, the Taipei Department of Transportation said last week.
Forty-two percent of those involved in accidents were registered in Taipei, while 58 were not, including 34 percent registered in New Taipei City, 4 percent in Taoyuan, 2 percent in Keelung City and 18 percent elsewhere, it said.
After hearing the department’s presentation in a meeting on traffic safety, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) asked if the city’s traffic signals were simply unfriendly to drivers from other cities and counties.
To identify the cause of the disproportionate number of accidents involving people from outside Taipei, the department should work with the Central Police University and other academic institutions, he said.
Those who have lived in urban environments for a long time are usually familiar with traffic signals, while those from outside Taipei might not be, Ko said, adding that this might be the cause of many accidents.
In response, department Director Chen Hsueh-tai (陳學台) said that traffic signals and road marking in Taipei are the same as those in other cities and counties in Taiwan.
Instead, the reason for the disproportionate number of accidents by outsiders might be that the drivers “were unfamiliar with the roads and intersections in the city,” Chen said, adding that there are many one-way streets in Taipei and intersections where left turns are prohibited.
“Drivers need to be cautious whenever they are in a new city,” Chen said, adding that the department would work with experts to address the issue.
Young motorcyclists aged 18 to 25 accounted for most accidents in the city, regardless of whether they were residents, the department said.
The top three causes of accidents were failing to yield to other vehicles, failing to pay attention to road conditions and changing lanes without signaling, the department said.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans