TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan will officially raise the maximum fine for motorists who fail to yield to pedestrians to NT$6,000 (US$193) on Friday (June 30), but the regulation that drivers must maintain a distance of three meters from pedestrians at crosswalks will remain unchanged.
On June 21, the National Police Agency (NPA) announced a new regulation that was to go into effect on June 30 that all drivers should stop for pedestrians present on a crosswalk, regardless of their distance from vehicles. However, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said on June 22 that he believed the new rules would hinder traffic flow and on Monday (June 26) announced that an inter-agency meeting would be held to deliberate on the details of the new regulations.
During a press briefing on Tuesday (June 27), Wang was asked whether a final decision had been made on the new rules. Wang said that after stronger enforcement of existing regulations was conducted, drivers have increasingly been seen stopping and giving way to pedestrians at crossings, and for this reason, the three-meter standard will remain in place, reported ETtoday.
Wang said that during a Monday (June 26) meeting, the ministry determined that pedestrians are very accustomed to the three-meter rule, and creating a new standard may cause more problems. He added that law enforcement agencies may also find the proposed changes to be difficult to implement.
He said that participants at the meeting believed that because the three-meter guideline had been in place since 2006, and there had not been much controversy over it in the past, the determination was made to keep the rule as it is. However, meeting attendees did agree to increase the maximum fine for motorists who fail to yield to pedestrians from NT$3,600 to NT$6,000.
In addition, motorists who incur this fine will also be required to undergo three additional hours of driver's education. Wang said that he also received final confirmation on Tuesday morning from the NPA that it was in agreement with maintaining the three-meter regulation and increasing the fine, effective June 30.
