The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) today vowed to clarify the penalty for drunk driving to mandate a two-year license plate suspension, regardless of whether the vehicle is owned by the driver.
The Supreme Administrative Court in February ruled that a vehicle’s license plate shall be suspended in a drunk driving case only when the driver and owner of the vehicle are the same person, but the ministry is seeking to make that penalty applicable in all instances.
The latest version of Article 35 of the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) went into effect in March 2022 and states that the penalty for an owner “knowing” a person is drunk and allowing them to drive their car is a fine and a two-year license plate suspension.
Photo copied by Chueh Ching-lun, Taipei Times
Previously, the court ruled favorably in the case of a vehicle owner who sued after their car was driven drunk by their son, resulting in its license plate getting suspended.
The court ruled that while Article 35, Paragraph 7, does specify that the “vehicle owner” is subject to penalties, including a license plate suspension, Article 35, Paragraph 9 does not do so explicitly.
To abide by legal principles, authorities can only suspend a vehicle’s license plate when the owner and driver are the same, the court ruled.
At a news conference today, Department of Public Transportation and Supervision Director-General Lin Fu-shan (林福山) said that the ministry would move to amend the law to merge the two paragraphs together.
The ministry held discussions with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior and the six special municipalities, agreeing to respect the court’s ruling, Lin said.
If a vehicle owner is aware that another person is drunk and still allows them to drive their car, the owner can still be penalized, Lin added.
The MOTC would move to merge the two paragraphs so that any vehicle driven drunk would have its license plate revoked, Lin said.
The ministry would submit a motion for amendment during an upcoming review session by the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee, Lin said.
If the motion passes and the legislature approves the amendments, the amended penalty standards could go into effect within six months, Lin added.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS