Zhang Yuci calls on Hsinchu County to take stock of road improvement needs in advance and include them in the review of pedestrian violation hot spots

Zhang Yuci, a county council candidate for Zhubei East District in Zhuxian County promoted by Taiwan Advance, has long been concerned about pedestrian safety issues. (Provided by Zhang Yuci)

In response to the announcement from the Ministry of Transportation that the traffic violation fines allocated to the county and city governments will be used exclusively for road safety improvement and law enforcement, Zhang Yuci, a county council candidate for the Zhubei East District of Hsinchu County, a member of the Taiwan Forward Front and the Power of the Times, today called on the county government to take stock of the road improvement needs in the county in advance, and include not only accident hotspots, but also pedestrian violation hotspots in the review of road design to prepare for the new system.

Zhang Yuci said that from January to July this year, the death toll in pedestrian traffic accidents in Hsinchu County was 10 on the 30th, an increase of 9 compared with the same period last year. It was the county with the largest increase in the number of deaths in Taiwan. The county government has proposed measures such as publicity, engineering improvement, and law enforcement. In the future, it should further integrate accident and violation data to identify areas that need priority improvement.

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She said that the county government recently announced that the police cracked down on 302 cases of vehicles failing to yield to pedestrians and pedestrian violations in August. Regarding the hot spots of violations discovered by law enforcement, she advocated that further investigation should be carried out to determine whether road design issues are involved and whether there are any areas that need improvement. Of course, accident hotspots need to be improved, but violation hotspots should also be included in the review. There is no need to wait until casualties occur to assess whether there are problems with the road design. Therefore, we call on the county government to use law enforcement records to propose improvements in priorities and schedules to allow fine revenue to return to road safety.

Zhang Yuci said that she had previously called on Hsinchu County to take the lead in promoting the use of special funds for fines. Now that the central government has proposed amendments, the county government should actively prepare. The new system also requires that the budget preparation and implementation progress be disclosed every six months. In the future, in addition to reviewing the use of funds, the council should also track whether improvements have achieved the desired results. In addition to disclosing where the money is spent, they should also review whether the budget spent has achieved the desired results, so that the public can see the actual improvement in road safety.

Zhang Yuci, a county council candidate for Zhubei East District in Qianjin Zhu County, Taiwan, called on the county government to take stock early in order to improve road safety in response to traffic fines, including hot spots where pedestrians are prone to violating regulations, and to confirm whether there are any problems with road design. (Photo by reporter Huang Meizhu)