The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday promised to streamline the license plate application procedures for micro-electric scooter riders, as fewer than 2,000 people have obtained license plates since the policy took effect on Wednesday last week.
The ministry began regulating the about 500,000 micro-electric scooters found nationwide due to a rise in traffic accidents caused by the vehicles, and illegal modification by scooter owners which compromised safety.
The new policy stipulates that existing and new micro-electric scooters must have government-issued license plates mounted on the vehicles.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
In addition, scooter riders must purchase liability insurance before using the road.
Scooter riders are to be given a two-year grace period to fulfill these two requirements.
However, the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) had issued only 1,778 micro-electric scooter license plates as of Friday last week.
Of the 1,778 license plates issued, 1,622 were distributed to existing micro-electric scooter riders, data from the highways agency showed.
Meanwhile, 201 existing micro-electric scooters failed vehicle inspections, with 67 percent of them lacking certificates of origin, the agency said, adding that about 23 percent involved illegal modifications of vehicles.
Complicated application procedures and a lack of awareness of the new policy were the main reasons why so few license plates were issued, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) told a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday.
“Riders who purchased the micro-electric scooters long ago said that they had trouble locating vehicle origin certificates, customs import tax payment certificates and other documents,” he said.
The nation has only 14 insurance firms offering liability insurance plans for micro-electric scooter riders, Lee said.
“The firms will need time to verify the license plates of the scooter riders and will not pay for any claims filed before a liability insurance plan takes effect,” Lee said.
“The DGH will only dispatch representatives to provide on-site services if there are 30 or more license plate applicants. Scooter riders living in remote areas are expected to experience greater inconvenience to apply for license plates,” he said.
However, the ministry might have difficulty ensuring that all 500,000 micro-electric scooters are licensed, and their owners have liability insurance, he added.
The highways agency would work with 178 retail bike stores to address these issues, MOTC Department of Railways and Highways Director-General Lin Fu-shan (林福山) said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said he would ask the agency to consider offering on-site services for scooter riders living in remote rural areas, even though there were only a dozen of them.
“We will set new criteria to dispatch representatives within a week,” Wang said.
Meanwhile, migrant workers are only allowed to buy micro-electric scooters after obtaining an agreement from their Taiwanese employers, New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said, adding that this is a discriminatory practice.
The agency said it would discuss this issue with other government agencies.
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