A multiple vehicle collision on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) in Miaoli County early yesterday morning triggered a fire and left two people dead and nine injured, while heavy traffic jammed the nation’s freeway system on the third day of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The Miaoli County Fire Bureau said it received a report at about 5am of a pile-up involving a tour bus and five other vehicles at the 128km mark on the northbound lanes of Freeway No. 1 between the Gongguan (公館) and Touwu (頭屋) exits.
The fire engulfed the tour bus from Ubus company and a passenger car the tour bus crashed into from behind.
Photo: CNA
The tour bus’ 48-year-old male driver and a 62-year-old female passenger in the vehicle hit by the bus died in the fire.
The bus and passenger car were completely destroyed by the fire. The bus’ 21 passengers and the driver of the burned passenger car were able to get out of the vehicles and survived, the bureau said.
Preliminary findings by the National Highway Police Bureau indicated that the 46-year-old female driver of the first car, surnamed Chen (陳), tested above the limit for alcohol in her blood, bureau section head Chang Ming-kuang (張明光) said.
The woman had a blood alcohol level of 0.34mg per liter, higher than the legal limit of 0.25mg.
As for how the pile-up occurred, Chang said the tour bus caused the collision from behind, but further investigation was needed to get a clear picture of what happened.
Meanwhile, the National Freeway Bureau reported that as of 11am yesterday, traffic volume reached 37.9 million vehicle-kilometers, and was likely to top 120 million vehicle-kilometers by the time the day was over.
Both figures were in line with previous estimates, it added.
Still, there were several road sections that saw travel speeds of less than 40kph in the morning, including Freeway No. 1’s southbound lanes in northern Taiwan between the Yangmei (楊梅) and Jhubei (竹北) interchanges, and between the Hsinchu and Toufen (頭份) interchanges.
Similar conditions were seen on the freeway’s northbound lanes between Yuanshan (圓山) and Sijhih (汐止) intersections in northern Taiwan; and between Nanzih (楠梓) and Kaohsiung Science Park intersections in southern Taiwan, it said.
On the Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3), traffic clogged southbound lanes between Sanying (三鶯) and Longtan (龍潭) intersections in northern Taiwan; and between Kuaiguan (快官) and Wufong (霧峰) intersections, and Caotun (草屯) and Jhongsing (中興) interchanges in central Taiwan.
Heavy traffic developed in other areas as the day wore on.
As of 2:30pm, traffic slowed to 20kph to 40 kph on northbound lanes of Freeway No. 3 from Muzha (木柵) to the entrance to the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5) and on the southbound lanes of Freeway No. 5 between Nangang (南港) and Pinglin (坪林).
Other traffic snarls in the afternoon were seen on Freeway No. 1’s southbound lanes between Yangmei and Toufen in northern Taiwan, and between Puyan (埔鹽) and Siluo (西螺) in Changhua County.
Similar congestion was being experienced on Freeway No. 3’s southbound lanes between the Yingge (鶯歌) and Guansi (關西) exits, the Hsinchu and Siangshan (香山) exits, and the Houlong (後龍) to Sihu (西湖) service area exits in Miaoli County.
Holiday freeway traffic is expected to remain busy on southbound lanes until tomorrow, and heavier on northbound lanes from Wednesday to Sunday.
Information on real-time traffic conditions can be found at 1968.freeway.gov.tw/?lang=en or by downloading the mobile application at 1968.freeway.gov.tw/sapp.
Meanwhile, the Central Weather Bureau forecast that most parts of the nation would experience a cold wave after the start of the Year of the Rabbit, which began yesterday.
The arrival of the cold wave, defined as temperatures falling below 10oC at the Taipei weather station, would send temperatures plummeting tonight on the second day of the lunar new year, it said.
Temperatures are to remain low tomorrow and on Wednesday, when snow is expected at high altitudes, it said, adding that the weather would take a turn for the better by Thursday.
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