The Shilin District Court on Wednesday found a truck transportation company owner and a repairman guilty of negligence causing death, after a cement mixer truck crash on Yangmingshan (陽明山) caused a 22-vehicle pileup, killing four people and injuring eight.
The court determined that the major cause of the crash was a brake failure, with the truck picking up speed on a downhill section of Yangde Boulevard (仰德大道), colliding with 13 cars and nine scooters and damaging four houses on the morning of July 19, 2017.
The truck driver, Ruan Ying-kuei (阮英貴), 44, was among the three men and one woman killed in the accident.
The truck company, Hsin Yung Engineering (信詠工程), bears legal liability, with the company owner, Chen Mei-lan (陳美蘭), and repairman, Lu Chih-hong (盧志宏), receiving prison terms of four years and two months, and three years and six months respectively.
An investigation found Chen liable for ignoring signs of vehicle problems, permitting the truck to overload its cargo limit, as well as allowing Ruan to continue with delivery runs, despite knowing that the truck had no hand brake.
The investigation also attributed the brakes’ failure to Lu’s sloppy work, as he did not fix the screws and locking pins on the differential gearings, which resulted in the gearings and the central driving shaft becoming loose and falling off the truck, disabling the engine brakes.
Manufactured in 1977, the truck had been in use for 40 years, with Chen buying it secondhand in 2005, although the handbrake had been removed, as it was not working.
Post-crash testing by experts from a truck manufacturers’ union indicated that the truck’s engine brakes did not function at all, and only its pneumatic brake system was working.
The truck picked up speed downhill, with the excess weight it was carrying adding to its speed. Ruan had to apply the pneumatic brake repeatedly, which eventually failed due to overstraining, as the compressed air got discharged and could not be filled in sufficient time, the tests showed.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese