The Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ National Freeway Bureau has issued safety guidelines for prescription drug users, saying that drivers taking common medicines could have impaired focus and are at heightened risk of traffic accidents.
Diminished ability to focus could be a side effect of sleeping aids, analgesics, pupil-dilating eye drops and muscle relaxers, as well as certain types of cold remedies, antihistamines, blood sugar or blood pressure drugs, and psychiatric medicines such as those used to treat depression or anxiety, Bureau Deputy Director-General Chou Ting-chang (周廷彰) said.
People should not drive if their medication causes sleepiness, fatigue, vertigo, blurry vision, slowed reflexes, loss of concentration, cold sweats, trembling, an irregular heartbeat or low blood sugar levels, Chou said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Drivers who do not feel well should immediately slow down and park their vehicle by the side of the road, he said.
Chou also urged people who take drugs that boost blood sugar levels to consider alternative transportation methods.
The bureau plans to coordinate with hospitals and local governments to ensure that people are informed if the medicines they take could impair their ability to drive, he said.
Separately, the bureau has launched a project to introduce a new street light scheme, in which yellow lights would be used to illuminate most of the roads’ lengths and white ones would mark street intersections, Chou said.
Yellow street lights have low glare, and the color contrast they form with white light sources could help drivers gauge their distance from the next intersection, he said.
White street lights have better illumination and grab attention, which increases driver alertness for pedestrians and other vehicles, he added.
The bureau earlier this year tested mixing yellow and white street light sources at seven intersections, and the trial results showed significant drops in the number of traffic accidents, Chou said.
Traffic Management Division Director Chiang Yu-feng (姜宇峰) said that, as of last month, the bureau had replaced street lights at 154 locations and expects the number to go up to 200 by the year’s end.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
RSS