Several road safety groups yesterday announced plans for a rally in Taipei to protest the slow progress in government reform of the driver licensing system following a fatal crash in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽).
“The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is fully responsible for the driver licensing system, yet it has failed to make any serious or proactive reforms for more than three decades,” Next-gen Transportation Union chairperson Nolan Wang (王晉謙) told a news conference outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Wang said that his group is not advocating a ban on elderly drivers — the driver involved in Monday’s crash that killed three and injured 12 was a 78-year-old man — but is calling for reform of the licensing system for older drivers.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Currently, drivers aged 75 or older must undergo a basic health check and cognitive screening every three years to renew their licenses.
The 78-year-old driver, who remained in intensive care as of yesterday, had renewed his license in February.
Wang said the cognitive test as overly simplistic, citing questions such as: “What is today’s date,” “How old are you” and “Who is your husband or wife?”
“If such simple questions are enough to qualify a person aged 75 or older to renew their license, then the system is clearly outdated,” Wang said.
Wang also dismissed a proposal by Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) to lower the license renewal age from 75 to 70 as “useless.”
“What truly needs to be done” is a proper evaluation system to determine whether senior drivers are still capable of driving safely, both during the day and at night,” Wang said.
He added that road safety groups have long urged the ministry to implement comprehensive retraining programs for all drivers, not just seniors, through driving schools or local motor vehicle offices.
“Many countries already have such systems to reassess driving skills and ensure that those who received their licenses years ago stay up to date on road safety and traffic rules,” he said.
Vision Zero Taiwan held a separate news conference outside the Executive Yuan later yesterday, and submitted a petition urging the government to help Taiwan shed its reputation as a “living hell for pedestrians.”
The petition included seven demands for improving traffic safety, including standardizing road design, promoting a pedestrians first policy, reinstating the original points system and including advocacy groups in decisionmaking meetings.
A Vision Zero Taiwan representative surnamed Lee (李) echoed Wang’s concerns, calling for a retraining system that can identify high-risk drivers and “remove unfit drivers from the road.”
The Next-gen Transportation Union and the Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance are to cohost the march on Sunday, which is to start at 10am outside the Legislative Yuan and end with a rally at the transport ministry.
Vision Zero Taiwan is to also hold a memorial at 11am in a park near the site of the fatal crash in Sansia.
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