A preliminary investigative report into the fatal traffic incident in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽) last week is to be published next month, Taiwan Transportation Safety Board Chairman Lin Shinn-der (林信得) yesterday told lawmakers at a meeting of the Transportation Committee.
The incident occurred on Monday last week when a 78-year-old motorist sped through a school zone, killing three people and injuring 12 others.
It triggered nationwide discussions over pedestrian safety and whether the government should further restrict elderly people from driving.
Photo: CNA
The board launched an investigation into the case after deeming it to be a major highway incident.
The committee was scheduled to release frozen funding at the transportation incident investigation agency.
Nearly all lawmakers focused on the board’s progress on the investigation during the question-and-answer session.
“Aside from working with the prosecutor, we have also formed a 15-person special task force to investigate the case specifically, leaving us with very little time to work on other cases. We are still waiting for the decoding of data on the event data recorder and would have to interview the driver as well. Hopefully, we can speed up the pace of the investigation,” Lin said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said that elderly driving was previously thought to the possible cause of the incident.
As more recorded video footage related to the incident emerged, the board should investigate whether it occurred because of the driver’s negligence, he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said that the incident did not meet self-prescribed criteria to launch an investigation, but it was the first time that an investigation was launched because of pedestrian casualties, which had happened more than a dozen times in the past two years.
“Unfortunately, the cases were mainly investigated by the police or local governments. There has yet to be a systematic analysis of patterns shown in these fatal incidents involving pedestrians,” Lin Chun-hsien said.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國成) said that the board needs to work closely with the Institute of Transportation, a think tank under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, so the results of investigations can be turned into policies that save lives.
Lin Shinn-der said that age of the driver was not the only issue, adding that the board would provide additional recommendations to the transportation ministry.
A preliminary report is expected to be released next month, with a fact-finding report to follow in October, he said, adding that the complete investigation report is to be published in January next year.
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