A man who was driving more than 100kph when he hit and killed a 77-year-old woman illegally crossing the street has been sentenced to six months in jail by a Changhua court, which found him “half responsible” for the fatal crash.
In a verdict released on Tuesday, the Changhua District Court said the accident occurred at about 6pm one evening in January, as the man, surnamed Hu (胡), drove along Zhongshan Road in the southern part of Yuanlin City (員林).
Hu, who was talking on the phone with a colleague using a hands-free device, was driving at 102.9kph in a 60kph zone as he approached Yuanlin Boulevard, the verdict said.
Photo courtesy of a reader
As Hu approached the intersection, a 77-year-old woman surnamed Chan (詹) attempted to cross the street at a crosswalk, despite there being a red pedestrian signal, the court said.
After noticing the pedestrian, Hu tried to avoid hitting Chan, but ultimately struck her with his front left bumper, causing injuries to her head and chest that resulted in her death three days later, the court said.
In its verdict, the court said that although Hu was going well over the speed limit, he had a green light as he entered the intersection, and thus had the right of way.
Chan, on the other hand, had engaged in “highly risky” behavior by trying to cross the intersection on a red light, and was not carrying any type of reflective material, the court said.
Considering the facts of the case, the court determined that both parties were “half responsible” for the crash.
Hu, who was found guilty of negligent homicide, was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine at a rate of NT$3,000 per day.
The verdict can be appealed.
Under the Criminal Code, an individual found guilty of negligently causing the death of another person faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, or a fine of up to NT$500,000.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
RSS