At the Cabinet meeting today, Premier Jiang Yi-huah commended the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) for its action plan to educate the citizenry on road safety from a young age.
"This will help promote a culture of courteous riding and driving among the public and thus enhance road safety for bicycle and motorcycle riders as well as the elderly by reducing traffic accidents," he remarked.
"Bicycle riding has become a national trend," the premier noted. "Therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to bicycle safety, as some riders speed along as fast as light motorcyclists, and a collision with pedestrians could be disastrous." He thus asked the MOTC to augment publicity of bicycle safety measures.
According to the MOTC, 97.8 percent of deaths and injuries from traffic accidents result from factors owing to drivers. Therefore, the three major goals of the plan are to increase awareness of safety risks, knowledge of the danger of speeding, and courtesy on the roads. It is hoped that these measures will help reduce traffic accidents.
The premier also noted that this plan has similar objectives to the Improving Highway Traffic Order and Safety Projects, which the MOTC has implemented since 1983. The projects, reviewed triennially by the ministry and submitted to the Executive Yuan for approval, are now in their 11th term of implementation, which runs from 2013 to 2015. Jiang enjoined the MOTC to clarify whether the two programs might overlap and whether integration between them is necessary, then submit a report to the Executive Yuan for approval according to standard procedures.