Motorcyclists, drone operators and water sports enthusiasts are on Saturday to march along Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei to protest some of the restrictions imposed on them.
About 30 representatives from the groups yesterday voiced their main appeals in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
Before joining other protesters on Saturday, more than 1,000 motorcyclists would ride along Zhongxiao W Road to protest against central and local government policies on motorcycles, Formosa Motorcycle Rights Association deputy chairman Wu Hsiang-yu (吳祥瑀) said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The Taipei City Government has banned motorcyclists from accessing the road for more than 40 years, as it is one of the main arterial roads in the capital.
“We hope the ministry will remove no-scooter lanes along roads across the country,” Wu said. “When arriving at an intersection, motorcyclists who want to turn left can decide for themselves how they want to turn: They can either turn from the innermost lane or make a two-stage turn by pulling into a marked waiting area and proceed then when the light turns green.”
“We also hope that motorcyclists, like car drivers, can access safe roads, including freeways and improved sections of the Suhua Highway,” Wu said.
National Delivery Union chairman Chen Yu-an (陳昱安) said the ministry tends to blame food couriers when they are involved in traffic accidents.
“The ministry should consider creating parking areas for food couriers to ensure their safety,” Chen said, adding that it needs to provide statistics to show whether food couriers are indeed more likely to be involved in traffic accidents.
Wu Ming-yang (吳明陽), founder of the 313 Alliance, said the regulations governing the use of uncrewed aerial vehicles remain unfriendly to independent drone operators since the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) implemented them more than two years ago.
“Under current regulations, only drone users recruited by government agencies, schools or other legal entities may file applications to fly drones at night. Independent drone operators are banned from flying drones between sunset and sunrise,” he said.
In addition to allowing independent licensed operators to apply to fly drones at night, the CAA should allow the operators of drones that weigh less than 25kg to renew their licenses every five years without having to retake a written test, he said.
Currently, they are required to renew their license every two years and can only apply for a license renewal after passing a physical exam and a written test.
“Civil aviation pilots, who must master much more complicated aviation knowledge, are allowed to renew their licenses every five years without having to retake tests,” Wu Ming-yang said. “Why must we renew our licenses every two years and have to retake the written test?”
Alliance for Open Policy of Water Sports convener Fang Kai-hung (方凱弘), who is also an assistant professor at the Taipei University of Marine Technology, said the government needs to abolish articles 36 and 60 of the Act for the Development of Tourism (發展觀光條例), as they are often cited by local government officials to ban water sports on rivers and lakes.
Water sports enthusiasts have been fined heavily for contravening the articles, Fang said.
“The government should in principle open the waters across the country to water sports and only name exceptions to the rule,” Fang said.
The CAA said the regulations governing nighttime drone operations are consistent with those stipulated by aviation authorities in Japan, Canada, the US and the EU.
As operators might not be able to control their drones accurately in the dark, they must have safety insurance and follow a set of procedures when applying to fly drones at night, the agency said.
Independent drone operators would be more inconvenienced if they renewed their license every five years as pilots do, it added.
“To a secure a license, pilots need to pass an English test at a certain level. They must also pass a physical exam every year as well as complete and pass aviation training every four to eight months,” it said, adding that pilots who have not flown for more than three months are disqualified.
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