TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — It will take "100 years to completely improve pedestrian spaces," according to a report by the Construction and Planning Agency, said Director of the Department of Transportation, Environment and Natural Resources Chen Ying-jung (陳盈蓉) on Friday (March 24), reported TVBS.
A Taiwanese Facebook page labeled Taiwan as a "living hell for pedestrians," drawing attention from international media such as CNN, which in December 2022, claimed Taiwan suffers from "battlefield-like" traffic conditions. Therefore, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) on Friday (March 24) held a public hearing in which experts and scholars discussed the problem.
Chung Hui-yu (鍾慧諭), deputy director of the Feng Chia University Innovation Center for Intelligent Transportation and Logistics, stated that Taiwan's transportation network is already a national security issue, and "we don't have 100 years to wait." Chung called for the design of national road specifications.
Lo said that the number of traffic accident deaths and injuries remains high in Taiwan, with nearly 3,000 people dying in traffic accidents every year. The Ministry of Communications is expected to propose a draft of the Basic Law of Road Traffic Safety in April.
Lo said Taiwan must "get rid of this pedestrian hell" and expressed hope that citizen groups and experts will also propose a version of the draft law. Lo argued that "only when good and clear laws are issued from above can those below follow them."
According to data from the National Police Agency, there was a total of 50,832 cases of vehicles failing to stop for pedestrians on crosswalks in 2022, an increase of 157% from the 32,464 cases reported over the same period in 2021. This year, there have already been 13,069 cases from January to February alone, an increase of 71% from the 7,639 cases reported in 2022.
The Cabinet has requested that priority improvements be given to areas that surround school campuses. Since 2013, more than 1,400 fines for such violations have not been paid, while the number of violations has also increased significantly and many of them are repeat offenders, which means that law enforcement has not achieved the desired deterrent effect, said Chen.
Chung pointed out that the driver's license exam and traffic violation systems are too lax in Taiwan, and in the U.S., Europe, and Japan there are stricter penalties. Traffic violation points in many other countries can last for three years, while in Taiwan the points expire after six months.
Chung said that the system in Taiwan is flawed and needs to be changed for the sake of national security.
