Taiwan's traffic woes: 3.5 million more tickets in 5 years, yet deaths and injuries persist; civic groups demand reform

Taiwan's traffic safety reform is under scrutiny as a civic group highlights a stark paradox: a surge of 3.5 million traffic tickets issued over the past five years has failed to curb the number of traffic fatalities and injuries. This alarming trend has prompted calls for a fundamental overhaul of the nation's approach to road safety.

At a recent seminar hosted by the Taiwan People's Party, experts from academia and industry joined politicians, including former chairman Ko Wen-je and caucus convener Huang Kuo-chang, to discuss the current state of traffic and propose solutions. Huang Kuo-chang emphasized the urgent need for the government to implement people-centered road safety measures, directly linking the rise in fines to the lack of progress in reducing accidents.

Academics presented a range of reform proposals. Chang Hsueh-sheng, a distinguished professor of urban planning, advocated for a "15-minute city" model and transit-oriented development (TOD) to reduce reliance on private vehicles. He suggested narrowing road lanes to return space to pedestrians. Luo Shih-wan, a professor of finance and taxation, criticized traffic fines as a "quasi-tax" for local governments, arguing that fines should be exclusively allocated to traffic safety engineering and education, with a direct link to accident reduction performance.

Further recommendations included establishing a national-level road standard, inspired by European and American practices, to address issues like inadequate sidewalks and poor intersection design. Calls were also made to reform driver education, moving away from a purely test-oriented approach to a more comprehensive system. The need for a single, dedicated agency, similar to Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, was emphasized to overcome fragmented responsibilities and bureaucratic inertia.