A 21-year-old alleged drunk driver who struck a pedestrian in Tainan’s Anping District (安平) early on Wednesday causing fatal injuries has been released on bail, local police said yesterday.
The pedestrian, a 58-year-old woman surnamed Sun (孫), died in a hospital on Wednesday night after being found with no vital signs at the scene of the collision, police said in a statement.
The incident occurred when the driver, identified by her family name, Wei (魏), made a left turn from Jiankang 3rd Street onto Anping Road at about 7am, police said.
Photo: CNA
Surveillance footage showed that after making the turn, Wei’s white Audi struck Sun, who was walking on the road’s edge, but well out of the traffic lane. Sun appeared to have been walking on the road to get past a parked car as the footpath was narrow.
Wei’s Audi veered left after hitting Sun and slammed into a parked taxi and a bakery on the opposite side of the road, police said.
The driver was arrested and found to have had a breath alcohol concentration of 0.57mg/l — nearly four times the legal limit of 0.15mg/l, police said.
Police said that they would increase breath-alcohol tests in Anping for five days beginning yesterday.
Following questioning, Wei was released at 11pm on Wednesday on bail of NT$100,000, the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office said.
An investigation is ongoing, it said.
In New Taipei City yesterday, police said that a man in his 70s was in a critical condition after being struck by a vehicle while crossing the road early in the morning.
The man was being treated at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Tamsui District (淡水), while the driver had been taken into custody on suspicion of offenses against public safety, police said.
The two incidents are likely to put further pressure on the government to improve road safety following several high-profile crashes and articles describing the country as a “living hell” for pedestrians.
It has taken some steps, such as increasing fines for failing to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks.
Last week, a rally, dubbed “Stop Killing Pedestrians,” was organized by the Zero Pedestrian Death Promotion Alliance in response to the 3,085 people who died in traffic incidents last year.
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