The pictures and names of drunk-driving repeat offenders are to be publicized after the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) implements an update to the enforcement rules by the end of this month.
The faces of repeat offenders would not be pixelated and their names would be revealed in full, the highway authority said, following a discussion with experts on Friday last week.
The list of offenders would be posted on the Web sites of the agency’s motor vehicle offices, it added.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
The measure is part of tougher drunk-driving penalties targeting repeat offenders in an amendment to Article 35 of the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) passed by the Legislative Yuan in January, which is to be enforced on March 31, the agency said.
Participants in last week’s meeting generally agreed that the government needs not blur the faces of repeat offenders and can release their full names, but the experts have yet to reach a consensus on whether the pictures should be obtained from motor vehicle offices or household registration offices, the agency said.
Some participants suggested that the government use mug shots taken when the repeat offenders were stopped by the police, it added.
Although Tainan earlier this month became the first city in Taiwan to disclose the names and pictures of three drunk drivers, some criticized the city for pixelating their faces and not disclosing their full names.
Others accused it of breaching personal data protection rules.
Whether Tainan’s disclosure of their pictures constituted a data privacy breach would be determined by the National Development Council, the agency said.
DGH Director-General Chen Wen-ruey (陳文瑞) said his agency would only disclose the information of repeat offenders until courts have decided their cases, estimating that this would take about one month from their offense.
In addition to the publication of their information, the amendment also stipulates that people who are caught driving drunk twice or more within 10 years or refuse to undergo breath alcohol tests are to be considered repeat offenders.
Passengers aged 18 or older who are caught riding in a vehicle driven by a drunk person would be fined NT$6,000 to NT$15,000.
Vehicles of first-time drunk drivers would be confiscated if they cause serious personal injuries or death.
‘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