Manhole covers become motorcycle “landmines” in Taichung, with fewer than 1% inspected in three years

More than 480,000 raised manhole covers line Taichung’s roads, but the city inspected only about 4,000 of them over the past three years, according to city councillors. That represents less than 1% of the total.

Councillors Chen Yu-jung, Chen Shu-hua, Chen Ya-hui and Hsiao Lung-tse raised concerns about the covers as a possible road hazard for motorcyclists. Taichung recorded more than 18,000 single-motorcycle crashes over three years, with 146 deaths. Councillors said slippery covers can become especially dangerous in wet weather.

Among the covers inspected, 6.3%, or 253, failed anti-skid tests. Based on that rate, councillors estimated that more than 30,000 covers across the city could have inadequate grip. Some roads contain three or four covers in a row, while a 100-meter stretch of Taiwan Boulevard Section 4 has as many as nine.

Chen said that stretch had ranked as Taichung’s top hotspot for single-motorcycle crashes for three consecutive years, yet it had not been included in inspections during that period. She also criticized the city’s crash statistics for not listing manhole covers or insufficiently skid-resistant road markings as possible causes, saying incidents were instead attributed to improper driving or failure to watch the road ahead.

Construction Bureau Director Chen Ta-tien said the city would continue prioritizing inspections on roads with heavy traffic and frequent crashes. He also said the city would require covers to be lowered during resurfacing work and ask utility companies to improve testing of covers that remain raised.