Fewer traffic offenses can be reported by the public under updated regulations passed by the legislature yesterday in response to public and police frustration over excessive reporting.
According to the new rules, only offenses with serious implications for public safety can be reported, such as driving without a helmet or double parking.
Reporting minor infractions, such as parking on road lines, would no longer be permitted.
Photo: Chang Hsun-teng, Liberty Times
The number of traffic offenses reported by the public has climbed to an unsustainable volume for police in recent years, many of which are retaliatory.
National Police Agency data showed that reports nearly quadrupled from 1.53 million in 2016 to 5.98 million last year.
About one-third of all tickets issued by police last year, or 4.4 million, were reported by citizens.
About 60 percent of these, or 2.23 million, were for parking on a road line marking.
In response, the Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) limiting the types of offenses that can be reported.
Now only 46 types of relatively risky infractions that are difficult for police to monitor can be reported.
Moving offenses include leaking or dropping cargo, or emitting a foul odor; driving without a helmet; lighting a cigarette or holding a phone while driving; dangerous driving or transporting dangerous cargo on high-speed roadways; excessive honking or flashing; illegal passing, U-turns or weaving between vehicles; running a red light or railway crossing; and blocking emergency vehicles.
They also cover a limited number of stationary violations, including parking in an intersection, pedestrian crossing or sidewalk.
Parking within 10m of a bus stop or within 5m of an emergency vehicle depot can also be reported, as well as double parking and parking in a priority space.
To prevent excessive reporting, the same vehicle can only be reported once every six minutes and once per block. The existing statute of limitations would remain, with a driver exempted if police fail to issue a ticket within seven days.
The limited list is only meant to ease over-reporting, but does not mean that other infractions cannot be ticketed, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS