news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

[Global Times Comprehensive Report] The traffic chaos in Taiwan was once described by foreign media as "pedestrian hell", and for this reason, the Taiwan "Pedestrian Zero Death Promotion Alliance" held a "Return the Roads to the People" parade on August 20 last year. Unexpectedly, a year later, the number of pedestrian deaths in Taiwan has not decreased but increased.

Taiwan's United Daily News reported on the 21st that several road rights groups held a "Return the Road to the People" parade in August last year, demanding that the DPP authorities face up to traffic problems, come up with corresponding policies, and wash away Taiwan's reputation as a "pedestrian hell". They also put forward demands such as "halving pedestrian deaths in 2030 and reducing pedestrian deaths to zero in 2040". At that time, all parties sent people to support it, and Lai Qingde also participated in it. However, the organizer, the "Pedestrian Zero Death Promotion Alliance", said that now that a year has passed since the event, there are still many shortcomings in pedestrian facilities, driving education, and traffic law enforcement, and the number of pedestrian deaths has increased instead of decreased. Statistics from the Taiwan Ministry of Transportation show that from January to May this year, 160 pedestrians died on the island. Compared with the same period last year, not only did it fail to achieve the goal of a 5% reduction, but it increased by 2.6%. At the same time, 26,000 children were injured or killed in traffic accidents last year, which was not only higher than the average of 23,000 in previous years, but also a peak in the past five years.

Chen Kaining, chairman of the "Pedestrian Zero Death Promotion Alliance", analyzed that 69% of pedestrian accidents in the first quarter of this year were caused by car collisions, and the main reason was that vehicles were not courteous. Taiwan's traffic system has long been "car-oriented" and condoned bad driving, harming people's lives and rights. She criticized the Taiwan "Ministry of Transportation" for changing its orders every day and repeatedly giving in when encountering difficulties. The alliance believes that the main reason for the chaos in Taiwan's road planning is that there is no competent authority and the road design lacks clear regulations. There are also problems such as insufficient proportion of civil groups in the road safety meetings regularly held by the Taiwan "Ministry of Transportation".

According to Taiwanese media reports on August 21, the "Pedestrian Road Rights Promotion Association" will hold the "Vision Zero Death Walking Festival" across Taiwan on August 24 and 25, which will be held simultaneously in Keelung City, Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Taichung City, and Kaohsiung City. It hopes to promote people-oriented urban development through a series of exhibitions and street activities. The curator of the "Vision Zero Death Walking Festival" is German exchange student Lucas, who said frankly that during his exchange in Taiwan, he deeply felt the differences in traffic environment between Taiwan and many German cities, especially in sidewalk facilities and public transportation systems.

According to Taiwan's China Times Electronic News, the "KEYPO Big Data Key Engine" public opinion analysis showed that the total online voice of "pedestrian hell" in the past year reached 155,000, "which shows that the issue of pedestrian right of way is still widely discussed in recent years." Many articles have appeared online mentioning topics such as "Pedestrian Hell Again" and "Pedestrian Hell Reappears".

According to Taiwan’s United Daily News on the 21st, the language learning platform “Preply” recently announced a survey on “Asia’s Most Walkable Cities”, using artificial intelligence (AI) to plan “one-day tours” for 30 selected cities, calculating the average total walking distance of each city’s sightseeing itinerary as well as time, number of steps and calories consumed. The results showed that Taipei’s data ranked last and was rated as the “least walkable city”. In response, the Taipei City Transportation Bureau said that the website did not consider public transportation, did not disclose how AI selected attractions, etc., “Such an analysis method cannot reflect the quality of the pedestrian environment.” Netizens on the island said, “Even Taipei has been certified as a ‘pedestrian hell’, let alone other places” and “It deserves its name, pedestrians have no right of way.” (Cheng Dong)