【Kaohsiung News】In terms of road safety tasks in Kaohsiung, both fatalities and injuries from A1 category accidents both decreased in 2023. The city government would like to thank city residents for their shared commitment to traffic safety. According to the Transportation Bureau of the Kaohsiung City Government, fatalities from AI category accidents in Kaohsiung City decreased from 175 to 156 in 2023, a 19-person decrease from 2022, accounting for an 11% decrease; injuries from A2 category accidents also decreased by 2469 people, accounting for a 4.6% decrease.
According to the Transportation Bureau, the primary strategies contributing to a reduction in the number of accidents in 2023 include traffic engineering improvements, campus and community advocacy, recruitment of private traffic safety ambassadors, implementing roots from multiple education channels, and managing large vehicles, among other measures. Traffic engineering improvements include improving accident-prone intersections, narrowing 36 car lanes, installing 27 marked sidewalks, 34 shifted left turn lanes, over 100 pedestrian scrambles, and other measures to reduce collisions during left and right turns and protect pedestrian rights on the road.
For example, the Transportation Bureau worked with the Parks Office in 2023 to identify ten accident-prone locations at night and install lighting at pedestrian crossings. After improvement, intersection illumination and brightness at road intersections were improved, highlighting the city’s innovative engineering. At the 2024 Traffic Safety Supervision Meeting, big data will be used to analyze accident-prone locations, causes, and patterns. Advocacy, improvement, and prevention measures will also be implemented, with a focus on accident-prone areas within respective administrative districts, branches, and the jurisdictions of relevant bureaus and offices. It is hoped that the quality of city roads will improve, and that residents’ awareness of traffic safety risks will increase.
The Transportation Bureau also stated that traffic safety efforts necessitate collaboration among bureaus and offices, particularly in the area of education advocacy. Since 2021, the Kaohsiung City Government has been promoting the “123 Traffic Safety Advocacy 123 Plan.” During the early phase, 12 bureaus and offices, including the Information Bureau, the Civil Affairs Bureau, and the Social Affairs Bureau, collaborated to provide advocacy images and instructional plan videos on a regular basis for distribution and sharing by their respective bureaus and offices. As of the end of 2023, the participants had grown to 16 bureaus, including the 4th Theater of Operations Command for the army, navy, and air force in Southern Taiwan. Together, they have increased the volume of traffic safety advocacy in all industries.
In terms of law enforcement, in addition to enforcing the law on red light running, serious overspeeding, driving without a license, and other serious violations, measures such as strengthening roadside inspections for large vehicles have been implemented. In December 2023, up to 13,000 vehicles were stopped for roadside inspections, a fourfold increase over the same period the previous year. Actual action has been taken to prevent accidents involving large vehicles, demonstrating a commitment to maintaining road traffic order.
According to Transportation Bureau Director-General Chang Shu-Chuan, Kaohsiung has proposed the 2024 Kaohsiung City road traffic safety implementation plan, which has a funding budget of around $300 million and aims to reduce traffic fatalities by 5%. The Transportation Bureau will continue to collaborate with the Public Works Bureau, the Education Bureau, the Information Bureau, the Police Department, the Kaohsiung City Motor Vehicles Office, the Highway Bureau, MOT, and other traffic safety bureaus and offices to promote 13 action plans in three areas, thereby improving Kaohsiung’s traffic safety environment.
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