◎ Chen Xiuan
From now on, drivers who have received road traffic safety training but commit specific violations again within one year will have to face a longer retraining course. The new system of the Highway Bureau of the Ministry of Transport will increase the general "training class for recidivism" from 4 hours to 6 hours, and the class for recidivism of drunk driving violations from 12 hours to 15 hours. At the same time, a "recurrence class for unlicensed driving violations under 18 years old" will be added, requiring underage drivers to take a 6-hour course, and parents must also accompany them. The Highways Agency estimates that approximately 28,000 people are affected each year. Traffic violations have long been one of the most difficult issues for public safety in Taiwan. Only after the course time is increased, can these courses change driving behavior.
Drivers who commit certain violations again within a year will have to face a longer retraining course. The picture shows a road traffic safety lecture. (File photo)
Road traffic safety training has the nature of administrative control and behavior modification. The current "Road Traffic Safety Training Measures" originally stipulated that if a driver violates the regulations again within one year after receiving the training, but still needs to receive training according to law, the number of training hours can be increased. In other words, the legal design of this system is inherently progressive: occasional violations and repeated violations face different administrative measures. Such differential treatment must still comply with the principle of proportionality, and authorities must demonstrate a reasonable link between the additional courses and reduced risk of recidivism, and the actual effects must be regularly reviewed. If the 15-hour course on drunk driving recidivism only involves sitting in a classroom, watching videos, and signing in to obtain a certificate, the administrative costs incurred by adding three hours will be difficult to translate into road safety results. Truly meaningful retraining should allow offenders to understand risks, identify wrong decisions, and design courses that target the factors that lead to recidivism.
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What is particularly noteworthy in this new system is that those under the age of 18 who re-offend driving without a license must be accompanied by their parents in class. The 6-hour course covers traffic laws and responsibilities, parental relationships and child protection, as well as road risk identification and licensing instructions. This arrangement has gone beyond the scope of traditional traffic law promotion, and also shows that the competent authorities have begun to regard underage driving without a license as a problem faced by families, education and risk management. Minors' repeated unlicensed riding may be caused by insufficient family supervision, schooling needs, inconvenient transportation in rural areas, peer influence, or even parents' tacit permission for their children to use motorcycles. Requiring parents to attend classes together can help families understand their legal responsibilities, but when the system is implemented, it should still be prevented from reducing accompanying classes to a mere "sitting together." Competent authorities should analyze age, region, reasons for violations and traffic needs from recidivism data to find out the real reasons for repeated driving without a license.
Whether road safety reforms can actually change drivers' behavior after taking courses is the long-term test that this new system should undergo. (File photo)
The information released by the Highway Bureau also provides a starting point worth continuing to track. After the implementation of specific recidivist compulsory correction and prevention classes at the end of March this year, as of the end of August, the number of related recidivism cases decreased by 1,371 compared with the same period last year, a decrease of approximately 45%, with the most obvious decrease in red light running cases. These figures suggest that the retraining system may have some effect, but public policy evaluations should be more detailed. The decrease in the number of violations may be affected by various factors such as law enforcement intensity, technological law enforcement equipment, traffic volume and road construction. Therefore, if the competent authorities want to prove that the training is indeed effective in the future, it is best to publish the recidivism rate of the trainees after six months, one year or even two years, and compare it with similar groups who have not received the same course. The government already has a large amount of supervision and violation data, and is fully equipped to establish a long-term tracking mechanism. It can also further determine which courses can best reduce the recurrence of drunk driving, running red lights or driving without a license.
Taiwan's road safety reforms in recent years have gradually extended from raising fines to licensing examinations, driving training, return training and license renewal for senior citizens. This is an important shift because road safety requires long-term changes in people's driving habits. This year, the Highway Bureau has successively strengthened the license examination system, retraining for repeat offenders and license renewal for senior citizens. Next year, it also plans to incorporate motorcycle road driving training into the formal driving training course. The next more important task is to establish a system that can test the effect: Which drivers still commit the crime again after taking classes, which classes have truly reduced violations, and which groups need other intervention measures should be continuously disclosed through data. Traffic safety policy ultimately depends on whether accidents and recidivism are reduced. The few hours added to the new system can be the starting point for reform; whether drivers can really change their behavior after taking the class is the long-term test that this new system should accept.
(The author is in the information industry)
