Taiwan recorded 1,368 traffic deaths in the first half of this year, down 4.7 percent from a year earlier and 12.8 percent compared with 2023, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯) told a news conference that the figure was the third-lowest on record, behind 1,275 deaths in 2020 and 1,360 in 2018.
Pedestrian fatalities also fell to 173, the second-lowest since 2021, when 162 deaths were recorded, while fatalities among motorcyclists, drivers, young and elderly people all declined, he said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
By city, Tainan recorded the highest number of deaths at 168, followed by Kaohsiung with 152 and Taichung with 133. Tainan also posted the largest year-on-year increase, rising by 39 deaths, while Miaoli County added 16, and Keelung and Chiayi City added six each.
MOTC official Wu Tung-ling (吳東凌) said most of Tainan’s increase was linked to small vehicle crashes and elderly victims, with 30 percent of self-collision cases caused by driver fatigue or inattentiveness.
Separately, the Legislative Yuan has given preliminary approval to amendments that would toughen penalties for unlicensed driving.
Fines would be raised to NT$36,000 for motorcycles, NT$60,000 for cars and NT$80,000 for large vehicles, with the maximum penalty imposed for a second offense within 10 years.
Repeat offenders would also face additional fines of NT$12,000 for motorcycles and cars, and NT$24,000 for large vehicles.
Vehicle owners would be penalized at the same level as drivers, with license suspensions of three months for a first offense, six months for a second offense within 10 years and one year for three or more offenses.
Cases of unlicensed driving have fallen 9.8 percent since penalties were first raised in June 2023, the ministry said.
However, incidents involving unlicensed drivers last year still resulted in 523 deaths and 38,637 injuries, it said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS