The New Power Party (NPP) caucus yesterday called the Executive Yuan’s version of a draft basic act on traffic a “political joke” for being too abstract.
The party’s remarks came ahead of a Legislative Yuan Transportation Committee review of 17 traffic bills, including the Cabinet’s.
NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) told a news conference that the Cabinet proposed 27 articles that were abstract and lacking in content, adding that regulations on pedestrian safety had not been included.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The goal of “zero traffic-related deaths” is also absent in the Executive Yuan’s proposal, which removed policies, assessments and a timeline for improvement, resulting in endless meetings and subsidies allotment that would not help resolve traffic issues, Chiu added.
Neither the Executive Yuan nor the Ministry of Transportation and Communications held public hearings on the issues, NPP Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) said, adding that the Cabinet’s cursory and brash handling of the bill is unacceptable.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kuo-tsai (王國材) said that the basic act would occupy a higher hierarchy in terms of law and would serve as a basis for related legislation.
Wang said this was also the case in Japanese law.
The ministry agrees that some related laws should be reviewed to better tie in with the basic act, but the basic act should not be too detailed as it would conflict or overlap with related laws and cause further confusion, he said.
Separately, legislators yesterday said that traffic incidents involving large vehicles have, for the fourth consecutive year, exceeded 10,000, while a promised active forewarning system has faced severe delays.
The transportation ministry proposed the NT$330 million (US$10.2 million) system in 2021, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
It aims to help guide drivers, with anti-collision warning systems, lane departure warning systems, tire pressure gauges, blind spot warning devices, a system to detect whether a driver is too tired to operate the vehicle, a dashboard camera and alcohol-interlocking mechanisms.
Lin said it is a well-intentioned system that is perhaps the most advanced in the world, but it cannot be produced.
Even if the system were complete and ready for installation, it would take a decade to outfit all large vehicles, he said, urging the ministry to review its plans.
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