The nation might not reach its goal of reducing traffic-related deaths by 5 percent this year due to a spike in the number of traffic deaths in October, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications set the goal after more than 3,000 people were killed in traffic accidents last year.
Ministry officials yesterday disclosed traffic data collected in October at a news conference, showing that 32,395 traffic accidents were recorded that month, down from 32,469 last year.
Photo: Cheng Wei-chi, Taipei Times
However, 291 people were killed in accidents, up from 268 people in the same month last year.
Meanwhile, 43,624 were injured, which was 297 more than last year. Deaths among motorcyclists, pedestrians and the elderly, and those caused by large motor vehicles have all increased.
From January to October, the number of traffic accidents reached a total of 332,491, an increase of 28,223 compared with the same period last year.
The number of injured increased by 40,638 to 444,861, and the number of fatalities decreased by 20 to 2,514.
The five cities or counties that had the greatest increases in traffic deaths in the first 10 months were Nantou County, Taitung County, Taichung, Pingtung County and Yunlin County, which were up by 30, 17, 15, 14 and 13 respectively.
“Although the number of deaths in July, August and September fell, the deaths in October rose again. I am very disappointed, particularly in the significant increase in deaths among motorcyclists and the elderly, and those caused by gravel trucks and tour buses. We have to address the issue with local officials and propose solutions to problems such as fatigue driving,” Wang told reporters.
“We might not reach the goal this year, even though we have tried to improve the overall performance during the second half of the year. So far we have seen some positive results in last month’s data, and we still have a little time left to reach the target for this month. However, we estimate that reaching it might still be difficult,” he said.
In related news, a test designed by the Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection System and Jin Chuan Child Safety Foundation found that adults are more likely than children to give incorrect answers when it comes to road safety knowledge.
The test was administered among third to sixth grade students in 537 elementary schools and about 18,000 people online.
In questions related to blind spots, the rate of incorrect answers was only 9.3 percent among the students, while that among adults was 17.8 percent, test results showed.
One of the questions asked what cyclists should do when they see a large vehicle in front that is getting ready to turn right.
About 48 percent of people online answered incorrectly, saying that cyclists should keep an appropriate distance behind and to the left, while 24.2 percent of children gave the wrong answer.
The right answer is that they should keep proper distance and keep to the right.
“We can only speculate that most of the adults did not have road safety education growing up,” the test organizers said.
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