Taiwan failed to meet its target of reducing overall traffic fatalities last year, despite recording a historic low in pedestrian deaths, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯) told a news conference in Taipei that 2,338 people were killed in traffic incidents nationwide in the first 10 months of last year, down from 2,434 in the same period of 2024.
It was the lowest toll for the period since 2019, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
However, the data marked only a 3.9 percent year-on-year decline, falling short of a goal that the ministry set in 2023 of a 7 percent annual decrease, he said.
The ministry wants to halve deaths from traffic incidents from 2023 levels by 2030, requiring a 7 percent decrease annually.
The number of pedestrian deaths fell to 295 in the 10-month period from 297 in the same period of 2024, the lowest since 2008, the data showed.
Highways and Road Safety Division Director-General Wu Tung-ling (吳東凌) said that fatalities involving motorcyclists, elderly people, drunk drivers, pedestrians and young people fell in the period last year from the 2023 baseline.
Fatalities involving motorcyclists, drunk drivers and young people dropped 10.6 percent, 41.5 percent and 20.9 percent respectively from 2023, Wu said.
“A1” traffic fatalities — defined as deaths occurring within 24 hours of an incident — stood at 1,484 for the first 10 months of last year, while pedestrian deaths totaled 185. Compared with the same period in 2023, both figures were down, by 9.8 percent and 9.3 percent respectively, he said.
By region, Tainan recorded the largest increase in overall traffic fatalities, up 25 from the same period in 2024. Compared with 2023, Chiayi City had the biggest increase, up 13 deaths, the data showed.
Taichung posted the largest increase in pedestrian fatalities, up nine from the same period in 2024, while Kaohsiung recorded the biggest rise from 2023, with an increase of 13, the data showed.
Regions that met the target of reducing pedestrian deaths by at least 15 percent compared with 2023 were Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Changhua County, Tainan, Pingtung County, Taitung County and Kinmen County.
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