A group against drunk driving on Thursday slammed Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) for a rise in drunk-driving-related deaths in the municipality.
According to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Taichung reported a 54.9 percent increase in deaths caused by driving under the influence (DUI), which is 11 times more than the national average of 4.9 percent increase, Taiwan Against Drunk Driving (TADD) said in a news release.
The spike in fatalities in Taichung represented the highest number of DUI deaths and the largest percentage increase among Taiwan’s special municipalities and counties, it said, adding that 612 people were killed in drunk driving incidents in the municipality.
Photo: CNA
Taichung has been one of the the top three regions on the list of DUI fatalities almost every year except for the 2019 to 2021 period during which it ranked fourth, TADD secretary-general Kao Shu-chen (高淑真) said.
The rising DUI death toll in Taichung, which increased for five consecutive months this year, suggests a significant failure of the local government in enforcing anti-DUI measures, Kao said, adding that the city had “stopped caring about stopping drunk drivers altogether.”
The overall increase of drunk driving fatalities in Taiwan also reversed the national trend of fewer DUI deaths from 2014 to last year, the TADD said.
Ending the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and higher-than-normal summer heat have perhaps played a role in the rise of fatalities by increasing social drinking and encouraging car use, it said.
Taoyuan’s 506 DUI fatalities were the second-highest number in the nation, it said.
Drunk-driving fatalities in Yilan County showed a 21.5 percent decrease, and Tainan had 76 less fatalities, which represented a 17.7 percent decrease, it said.
Yilan and Tainan are the two jurisdictions that have made the biggest progress in dealing with drunk driving in the country in the January to May period, TADD said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas