Changes in Traffic Safety Policies andRegulations in Taiwan(1950–2010)

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in 7 Countries (1950-2010)
Copyright(C) 2012 International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, All rights reserved.

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

1. Introduction
The evolution of traffic safety issues and practices in Taiwan had not been noted between the 1950s
and 1960s. Some important facts such as numbers of accidents, road type classifications, registration
numbers of vehicle types and driver’s licenses were not well recorded until the 1970s. Taiwan has
unique characteristics in its traffic system when compared with most developed countries, since thenumber of motorcycles accounts for two-thirds of total motor vehicles, and that has caused moredifficult situations in traffic management. This paper organizes government facts, reports, and research
literatures to offer some perceptions of the development of traffic safety practices in Taiwan. Firstly, a
profile of changes in traffic related facts including the composition of population, road type, vehicle
ownership and driver’s licenses are illustrated. Secondly, fatalities and injuries by various road types,
transport modes, victims’ age and gender combinations are analyzed. Thirdly, we introduce
organizations in charge of traffic safety work and their system structure. Finally, we describe sometraffic safety measures that are discussed in Taiwan which may be considered effective in thedeveloping process.

2. Basic Information
2.1 Population
Taiwan has a population of 23.2 million with a density of 645 persons per square kilometer in 2010.
As shown in Figure 1, the yearly growth rate of the total population is about 0.9% on average during
the last 40 years, and the population number between genders has been approaching since 1970s
onward (detailed facts can be found in appendix 1). Per capita income GNP per year in Taiwan has
increased to 19,155 US dollars in 2010, a rise of about 50 times in the past 40 years, which caused therise in the use of motor vehicles. The composition of age distribution (see Table 1) has also changed inrecent years. Taiwan entered an ageing society (65 years of age or older accounted for more than 7%
in total population) in 1993. This ageing index reached 10.8% in 2010, and is forecasted to be 14% (i.e.
aged society) in 2017 and 20% (i.e. super-aged society) in 2025 (Council for Economic Planning andDevelopment, 2010). This implies we will face more serious challenges in elderly traffic safety issues.

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Persons
25,000,000

Total population
Male

23,162,123

Female20,000,000
15,927,167
15,000,000

11,635,225
10,000,000
8,354,012

11,526,898

7,573,155
5,000,000

0
1974

1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Year

Figure 1 Population Growth Trend between 1974 and 2010
Source: Ministry of the Interior (2011)

Table 1 Age Composition of Population in TaiwanYear

age 0-14

age 15-64

age 65+

2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

21.10%
20.80%
20.40%
19.80%
19.30%
18.70%
18.10%
17.60%
17.00%
16.30%
15.70%

70.30%
70.40%
70.60%
71.00%
71.20%
71.60%
71.90%
72.20%
72.60%
73.10%
73.50%

8.60%
8.80%
9.00%
9.20%
9.50%
9.70%
10.00%
10.20%
10.40%
10.60%
10.80%

Source: Ministry of the Interior (2011)

2.2 Road Types
Road types in Taiwan can be classified into five main categories: freeways, provincial roads, county
roads, rural roads, and urban roads. In general, freeways and provincial roads are constructed andmaintained by the central government, while county roads, rural roads, and urban roads areconstructed and maintained by 23 local governments. Figure 2 shows that except from the length ofurban roads which had an increasing growth rate, the other four types of roads have a slowing growthrate from 2000 to 2010. In general, freeways and provincial roads offering traffic function between
cities have a faster travelling speed of around 100-110 km/h for freeways and 70-90 km/h forprovincial roads (expressways are classified into provincial roads). On the other hand, county roads,
rural roads, and urban roads are positioned as intra-city roads with a lower speed limit of 40-60 km/h.

74Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

In 2010, freeways accumulated to 993 km, provincial roads 4,984 km, county roads 3,544 km, ruralroads 11,765 km, and urban roads 19,701 km, respectively. Detailed facts about road lengths can befound in appendix 2.

KM
25,00020,000Freeway
Provincial RoadCounty Road
Rural Road
Urban

15,00010,0005,000

01966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010
Year

Figure 2 Road Type and Length between 1966 and 2010
Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011)

2.3 Vehicle Registration and Driver’s License
2.3.1

Vehicle registration

Road traffic regulations define motor vehicles including buses, heavy trucks, passenger cars, lighttrucks and motorcycles. Excepting motorcycles, over four-wheeled vehicles are classified by privateand business uses and only professional drivers are eligible to drive their corresponding businessvehicles, endorsed by a professional license (Ministry of Transportation and Communications, 2008).
Motorcycles accounted for about 20% of all registered motor vehicles in the early 1950s, followed byan increase to 60% in the early 1960s, and then rose to over 85% during the 1970s, accompanying
economic booms in Taiwan. Since then on, motorcycles still comprise two-thirds of all registeredmotor vehicles (see Figure 2 and details in appendix 3). In 2010, the number of registered motorcycles
is around 14,845 thousand, and passenger cars is 5,803 thousand, respectively. Over the last forty
years, the number of motorcycles has risen 18 times, and even for a high ownership rate with 641
motorcycles per thousand people owned, it sill kept an annual growth rate of 2.6% on average after theyear 2000. However, light-typed motorcycles (mopeds with engines sized under 50 cc.), which
accounted for about 40% of total motorcycles in 2000 and dropped to 25% in 2010, decreased by 19%
during 2003-2010, with an annual decrease rate of 2.7% on average. This might be that a stricter
2-stroke-engine motorcycles (mostly light-typed) emission standard has been implemented by the75Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in recent years.
Different from motorcycles which had an early growth in the 1960s to 1970s, the amount of
automobiles had a steady growth after the 1980s. Among four types of automobiles, passenger cars
showed an increase rate of 10.5 times in the last 30 years, while light trucks 2.9 times, heavy trucks
1.4 times, and buses 0.5 times in the same period (see Figure 4).
No. of Vehicle/Motorcycle(Millions)

16
Motorcycle
Over Four-wheeled Vehicles

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1952 1955 1958

1961 1964 1967

1970 1973 1976 1979

1982 1985 1988

1991 1994 1997 2000

2003 2006 2009

Year

Figure 3 Compositions and Growth between Motorcycle and Automobile after 1970
Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011)
Over Four-Wheeled Vehicle
7,000,000

Bus
Heavy Truck
Passenger Car
Light Truck

6,000,000

5,803,413

5,000,000

4,000,000

3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

832,466
161,084

1952

1955

1958

1961

1964

1967

1970

1973

1976

0
1979

1982

1985

1988

1991

1994

1997

2000

2003

2006

Year

Figure 4 Compositions and Growth of Automobile after 1980
Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011)76

29,0302009

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

2.3.2

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Driver’s license

Road traffic regulations define driver’s licenses based on professional and private use. Professional
drivers have a stricter training and test process, and higher medical standards to obtain their licenses.
The maximum age limit for a professional driver is also set according to specifically authorizedcommercial vehicles. For example, professional licenses for a heavy commercial vehicle is restricted
to 65 years old, whereas professional licenses for a taxi might be released to 68 years old. Figure 5
shows that the registered number of professional driver licenses kept steadily constant in the last 20
years, while private driver licenses and motorcycle licenses had a comparable increase rate of double
the number of registered licenses during the same period (see detailed facts in appendix 4).
The motorcycle licensing system in Taiwan classifies motorcycles according to engine capacity:
mopeds (engine capacity less than 50 cc), light motorcycles (50–250 cc), and heavy motorcycles(greater than 250 cc). Without additional speed or power limitations for vehicles, engine capacity is
the only classification standard (Ministry of Transportation and Communications, 2008). The
minimum licensing age for mopeds and light motorcycles is 18 years, whereas for heavy motorcycles,
the minimum age is 20 years. Except for medical examinations, no prior experience or compulsory
training is required for mopeds and light motorcycles before the license tests. An individual can obtaina moped license simply by passing the theoretical test, or obtain a light motorcycle license by passing
the theoretical and practical tests. In contrast, heavy motorcycle licenses require an individual to haveheld a light motorcycle license for at least 1 year, and to have completed 32 hours of compulsory
training at a driving school before completing the theoretical and the practical tests. Without
compulsory education and training requirements for mopeds and light motorcycles, almost all riders
gain experience and skills by a process of self-learning.

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License15,000,000

Professional driver license
Private driver license
Motorcycle license

12,500,000

13,102,056

11,465,273
10,000,000

7,500,000

5,000,000

2,500,000

476,944
0
1989

1992

1995

1998

2001

2004

2007

2010

Year

Figure 5 Compositions and Growth of Driver License after 1990
Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011)

3. The Profile of Traffic Accidents
The definition of road traffic accidents are divided into three categories: A1, A2, and A3. The latest
definitions of A1, A2, and A3 accidents, revised in 2000, are whether at least one person died within
24 hours, at least one injury occurred, and only property damage occurred in the accident, respectively.
The difference between the latest and its previous definition is that in the previous version, A1 data
could represent either the death of at least one person within 24 hours of the accident, or at least one
severe injury in the accident. However, only A1 and A2 crash data were recorded in the Taiwan
police-reported accident database, Road Accident Investigation and Reporting System (RAIRS) data.
RAIRS has been operating since 1985 but only A1 accident data have been fully recorded. A2
accident data were not formally recorded until 1998, and A3 data, had not yet been incorporated into
RAIRS at the end of 2010.
In addition to A1 data which records fatalities within 24 hours, this paper also applied traffic fatality
facts published by medical systems and estimated 30-days fatalities in Taiwan for the purpose ofinternational comparison.

3.1 Fatality and Injury Accident Trends
Figure 6 shows A1 and A2 data spanning from 1966 to 2010. The number of traffic fatalities wasaround one thousand in mid-1960s, and then fatalities rose to three thousands in mid-1970s, andfinally reached the peak of above four thousands in mid-1980s. Followed by the fluctuation between

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2,500 and 3,500 in the next two decades, the fatalities approached nearly two thousands in 2010. Thisimplies that the deaths caused by crashes have been decreased since the year 2000. On the contrary,both number of accident events and injuries soaked between 2001 and 2010. The reason why A2 data
increased so rapidly needs to be studied. It might be caused by either well-recorded A2 data or theincrease of accident likelihood. More detailed facts about accident data is listed in appendix 5.

No.of Fatality
4,500
4,000
3,500

No. of Event(Injury) x 1,000
3,500

Event
Fatality
Injury

3,000
2,500

3,000
2,500

2,000

2,000

1,500

1,500

1,000

1,000

500

500

0

0
1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010
Year

Figure 6 Fatality and Injury Accident Trend between 1966 and 2010
Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011)

According to UN/ECE (2003), the most commonly cited definition of a road traffic fatality is: “anyperson killed immediately or dying within 30 days as a result of an injury accident”. For comparison,
we use different data sources to demonstrate traffic fatalities in Taiwan. In addition to police-reported
A1 fatalities within 24 hours, medical systems-reported estimated 30-days fatalities are also used inthis report. The estimated 30-days fatalities have been produced by the Institute of Transportation(IOT) since the year 2003. IOT linked police-reported A1 and A2 data with death certificate data inmedical systems to identify injury victims that finally died within 30 days.
Table 2 shows that medical system reported number of fatalities were about 1.6-1.8 times as much aspolice-reported fatalities within 24 hours, while the estimated 30-days fatalities had an adjustment
factor of 1.4-1.6 times that of police-reported 24 hour fatalities in the same time span between 2003
and 2009. Based on the medical system reported data, the number of fatalities reached the peak of over
7,500 persons during 1988-1989 (also see Figure 7). The adjustment factor between medical system
reported and police-reported fatalities were higher than 2 between 1991 and 1999, showing that79

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

police-reported fatalities seem to have been seriously underestimated during that period. From a longterm perspective, medical system reported fatalities had a decreasing trend from 1996 onward, while
police-reported 24 hour fatalities had a fluctuating pattern during 1991-2006, followed by a greater
decreasing rate after 2007. Over the last 20 years, even though the population and number of motor
vehicles have been steadily increasing, medical reported accident deaths have reduced by half.

Table 2 Police-reported, Medical System Reported, and Estimated Fatalities
Year

Police-reported Fatality(within 24 hr)
(1)

1966
1971
1976
1981
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

948
1,780
3,087
3,840
4,139
─
─
─
─
3,305
2,717
2,349
3,094
3,065
2,991
2,735
2,507
2,392
3,388
3,344
2,861
2,718
2,634
2,894
3,140
2,573
2,224
2,092
2,047

Medical System Reported Adjustment Estimated Fatality (within Adjustment
Fatality
Factor30 days)
Factor(2)(2)/(1)(3)(3)/(1)
─
─
─
─
6,270
7,034
7,524
7,584
7,333
7,322
7,216
7,367
7,250
7,427
7,077
6,516
5,903
5,526
5,420
4,787
4,322
4,389
4,735
4,735
4,637
4,007
3,646
3,464
3,515

─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
2.22
2.66
3.14
2.34
2.42
2.37
2.38
2.35
2.31
1.60
1.43
1.51
1.61
1.80
1.64
1.48
1.56
1.64
1.66
1.72

Source: Institute of Transportation (2011a) and Department of Health (2011)

80

─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
3,714
3,948
4,358
4,411
3,756
3,459
3,219
─

─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
─
1.37
1.50
1.51
1.40
1.46
1.56
1.54
─

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

No. of vehicle/population(x 1,000)

No. of Fatility

8,000

10,000

Police-reported Fatality (within 24 hr)

7,000
6,000

Medical System Reported Fatality

9,000

Estimated Fatality (within 30 days)

8,000

No. of Vehicle (x 10,000)

7,000

No. of Population (x 10,000)

5,000

6,000

4,000

5,000

3,000

4,000
3,000

2,000

2,000

1,000

1,000

0

0
1966

1970

1974

1978

1982

1986

1990

1994

1998

2002

2006

2010

Year

Figure 7 Comparison between Police-reported, Estimated, and Medical System Reported Fatalities
Source: Ministry of the Interior (2011), Department of Health (2011), Institute ofTransportation (2011a) and Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011)

3.2 Fatality and Injury Accident by Road Type, Transport Mode,and Victim’s Age
3.2.1

Fatality and injury proportion by transport mode

Based on police-reported fatalities, the number of fatalities and injuries by different transport modes
were analyzed between 1999 and 2009. Traffic accidents have caused over 1,186 motorcycle rider
fatalities (57% of all deaths) and over 179,000 injuries (73% of all injuries) in 2009 (detailed facts
demonstrated in Appendix 6). Figure 8 and Figure 9 shows that motorcycle rider fatalities and injuries
have the biggest portion in all fatalities and injuries respectively. Motorcycle rider fatalities comprised
50% of all fatalities in average between 1999 and 2009, and the rider death percentage was 39% in1999 and reached to 57% in 2009. Motorcycle rider injuries also had a high proportion in all injuries,
comprising 70% on average between 1999 and 2009, and increased from 60% in 1999 to 73% in 2009.
Thus, improving motorcycle safety is a pressing issue in Taiwan.
Over the past 10 years, pedestrians took the second highest portion in fatalities, around 14% on
average, passengers of all modes the third (around 13%), and then passenger car drivers (around 11%)and bicycle riders (around 6%). In terms of injuries, passengers of all modes had the second highest
portion (around 14%), passenger car drivers the third (around 6%) and then pedestrians (around 5%)
and bicycle riders (around 4%) spanning from 1999 to 2009.

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Other
1.54%

Bus Driver
0.16% Heavy Truck
Driver
1.22%

Passenger (allmodes)
12.83%

Passenger Car
Driver
11.10%
Light Truck Driver
3.06%

Pedestrian
14.22%Bus Driver
Heavy Truck Driver
Passenger Car Driver
Light Truck Driver

Bicycle Rider
5.89%

Motorcycle Rider
Bicycle Rider
Pedestrian
Passenger (all modes)

Motorcycle Rider
49.97%

Other

Figure 8 Fatality Compositions by Transport Mode between 1999 and 2009
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

Heavy Truck Driver
0.32%

Other
0.65%

Bus Driver
0.06% Passenger Car Driver
5.78%

Passenger (all modes)
13.67%

Light Truck Driver
1.38%

Pedestrian
5.33%

Bus Driver
Heavy Truck Driver
Passenger Car Driver
Light Truck Driver
Motorcycle Rider
Bicycle Rider
Pedestrian
Passenger (all modes)
Other

Bicycle Rider
3.76%

Motorcycle Rider
69.06%

Figure 9 Injuries Composition by Transport Mode between 1999 and 2009
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

3.2.2

Fatality rate by road type, transport mode, and victim’s age

As mentioned earlier, the number of fatalities tends to be decreasing in recent years. To further explore
the composition of fatality changes, we use the corresponding road length, vehicle registration number,and number of populations to calculate the fatality rate among different types of roads, modes oftransport, and age group of victims. Only the 24-hour police-reported data is able to be reached, andthe corresponding fatality rate spanning from 1999 to 2009 are demonstrated in Figure 10 throughFigure 17.
Figure 10 shows that freeways, provincial roads, and county roads had a higher but similar

82

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

significantly decreasing trend on fatality rates of about 200 to 80 fatalities per thousand km over thelast ten years. Urban roads had a slightly downward pattern of about 70 to 30 fatalities per thousandkm, while rural roads had a rather stable rate about 20 fatalities per thousand km between 1999 and2009. Freeways, provincial roads and county roads revealed a higher fatality rate, which may becaused by the higher running speed on these types of roads.
Fatalities/ 1,000 KM

250

Freeway

Freeway

Provincial Road

200

County Road
Rural Road

Provincial Road

Urban Road

150

100

County Road
Urban Road

50

Rural Road

0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 10 Fatality Rate by Road Type between 1999 and 2009
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

In terms of different transport modes (see Figure 11) passenger car drivers had the lowest fatality rateduring the ten-year period, while heavy truck, light truck drivers, and motorcycle riders had a higher
fatality rate as compared with passenger car drivers. Bus drivers, on the other hand, showed an
unstable pattern of fatality rates because of a relatively fewer of vehicle. All transport modes revealeda slightly decreasing trend on fatality rates with 3.26 fatalities of passenger car drivers, 5.19 fatalities
of light truck drivers, 5.67 fatalities of heavy truck drivers, 7.23 fatalities of bus drivers and 8.12
fatalities of motorcycle riders per one hundred thousand registered vehicles in the year 2009.

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Fatalities/ 100,000
Vehicles40

Bus Driver
Heavy Truck Driver

35

Passenger Car Driver
Light Truck Driver30

Bus Driver

Motorcycle Rider

25
20
15
10
5

Passenger Car Driver

0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2998

2009

Year

Figure 11 Fatality Rate by Motor Vehicle Type between 1999 and 2009
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

We further examined the fatality rate of drivers and passengers for different transport modes based on
various age and gender groups, shown in Figure 12 through Figure 17. Figure 12 shows that malepassenger car drivers, especially aged between 18 and 64, had a comparatively higher fatality ratecompared with their female counterparts. Male car drivers aged between 18 and 64 also had an
obviously decreasing trend of fatality rates over the past ten years. Moreover, male car drivers aged
18-24 had a dominantly high fatality rate between the year 1999 and 2006, but male drivers aged
25-64 ranked top since 2007.
The population-based motorcycle fatalities per one hundred thousand persons (Figure 13) is higher
than any other kind of their same age and gender counterparts of drivers or passengers shown in
Figure 12, Figure 14 through 17. For example, male motorcycle riders aged 18-24 had 14.5 fatalities
as compared with male passenger car drivers of the same age which had only 1.6 fatalities per one
hundred thousand persons. Similarly, male motorcycle riders also showed a higher fatality rate ascompared with female riders. Male riders aged 65 or above had the highest death risk in traffic
accidents, possibly because their frailty and lower resistance capacity to trauma. In addition to the
problem of older riders, male motorcycle riders aged 13-17 also had the risk even higher than any age
groups of female riders. Riders aged under 18 in Taiwan experiencing unlicensed motorcycling has
been an important issue. According to the ten years’ data, the fatality rate among different age andgender combinations for motorcycle riders revealed a rather stable pattern.
Elderly bicycle riders had a higher fatality risk as compared with their young counterparts (asdemonstrated in Figure 14). Older male bicycle rider aged 65 or above had the highest rate, and thenolder female aged 65 or above had the second highest rate. However, the difference between the two84

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

elderly gender groups seemed to be close in recent years. For the pedestrian part in Figure 15,
similarly with bicycle riders, both elderly genders as pedestrians show a higher fatality rate than their
younger counterparts. The population-based death rate of older pedestrians were higher than older
bicycle riders, and the rate for female pedestrians aged 65 or above was slightly higher than malepedestrians aged 65 or above. However, in both genders, elderly pedestrians had a diminishing trend indeath rates since 2003.
As for passengers seated in passenger cars and motorcycles, it is difficult to find a consistent trend forboth kinds of passengers in Figure 16 and Figure 17. Passengers aged 18-24 seated in cars seemed tohave a higher death rate between 2003 and 2008; however, male passengers aged 18-24 seated in
motorcycles also seemed to have a higher death rate between 1999 and 2003 and it turned out thatfemale passengers aged 18-24 seated in motorcycles have a higher rate of fatalities after 2005. Itshould be noted that passengers aged 13-17 seated in motorcycles also contribute to a significant partof passenger deaths.

Fatalities/ 100,000
Persons

Passenger Car Driver9

Age 18-24
Age 25-64

8

Age 65+

7

Age 18-24
Age 25-64

Age 18-24

6

Age 65+5
4
Age 25-64

3
Age 65+

2
1
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 12 Fatality Rate by Age of Passenger Car Driver between 1999 and 2009
(Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Fatalities/ 100,000
Persons
35

Motorcycle Riders
Age 13-17
Age 18-24
Age 25-64

30

Age 65+
Age 13-17
Age 18-24

25

Age 65+

Age 25-64
Age 65+20
Age 18-24
15
Age 25-64
10
Age 13-17
5
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 13 Fatality Rate by Age of Motorcycle Rider between 1999 and 2009
(Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

Fatalities/ 100,000
Persons
12

Bicycle Rider
Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+
Age 13-17
Age 25-64

10

Age 13-17
Age 25-64
Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+8
Age 65+
6

4

Age 65+

2

0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Year

Figure 14 Fatality Rate by Age of Bicycle Rider between 1999 and 2009
(Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

86

2009

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Fatalities/ 100,000
Persons

Pedestrian14
Age 65+12
10

Age 65+8
6
4

Age 0-12

Age 13-17

Age 18-24

Age 25-64

Age 65+

Age 0-12

Age 13-17

Age 18-24

Age 25-64

Age 65+

2
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 15 Fatality Rate by Age of Pedestrian between 1999 and 2009
(Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

Fatalities/ 100,000 Persons

4

Passenger (in Passenger Car)

Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+
Age 13-17
Age 25-64

3

Age 13-17
Age 25-64
Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+

Age 18-242
Age 18-24
Age 65+
1

0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Year

Figure 16 Fatality Rate by Age of Passenger Seated in Passenger Car
between 1999 and 2009

(Blue: Male, Red: Female)

Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

87

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Fatalities/ 100,000
Persons

Passenger (in Motorcycle)

54

Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+
Age 13-17
Age 25-64

Age 18-24

Age 13-17
Age 25-64
Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+3

2
Age 18-24
1

0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004
Year

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Figure 17 Fatality Rate by Age of Passenger Seated in Motorcycle
between 1999 and 2009 (Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

3.2.3

Injury rate by road type, transport mode, and victim’s age

Different from fatality rates, the number of injuries appears to be increasing in recent years. Consistent
with fatality rates between 1999 and 2009, we applied 24-hour police-reported data to analyze thecorresponding injury rate by road type, transport mode and age and gender groups of victims. The
related figures are demonstrated in Figure 18 through Figure 25.
In Figure 18, we can find that only freeways had a slightly decreasing tendency over the past ten years.
Both urban and county roads had a similar increasing rate on road length based injury rates from theyear 1999 to 2008. Provincial roads and rural roads also had a comparable increasing rate. Up until
2009, urban roads had the highest injury rate with 7,342 injuries per thousand km, and county roads
had the second highest rate with 4,771 injuries per thousand km. However, provincial roads, ruralroads, and freeways had a lower injury rate of about 3,515, 1,742 and 1,376 injuries per thousand km
respectively.

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Injuries/ 1,000 KM
8,000

Freeway
Provincial Road

7,000

Urban RoadCounty Road
Rural Road

6,000

Urban RoadCounty Road

5,000
4,000

Provincial Road

3,000

Freeway

2,000
1,000

Rural Road

0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 18 Injury Rate by Road Type between 1999 and 2009
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

To analyze injury rates by transport mode, Figure 19 shows that over the past ten years, only
motorcycle riders have revealed a sharply increasing rate with over 60% growth in injury rates per
year. However, bus drivers showed a sharply decreasing trend since 2004, and heavy truck drivers aslightly decreasing rate in 2008 and 2009. Both bus drivers and heavy truck drivers had a comparable
injury rate with passenger car drivers for the last two years. Light truck drivers had a little higher rateof injuries than passenger cars over the ten-year period. Based on the vehicle based injury rate in theyear 2009, motorcycle riders revealed a high rate of 1,234 injuries per one hundred thousand
registered vehicles, and in addition, light truck drivers had a rate of 302 injuries, passenger car drivers
180 injuries, heavy truck drivers 145 injuries, and bus drivers with 137 injuries on the basis of per one
hundred thousand registered vehicles.

89Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Injuries/ 100,000
Vehicles1,400

Bus Driver

1,200

Heavy Truck Driver

Motorcycle Rider

Passenger Car Driver
Light Truck Driver

1,000

Motorcycle Rider

800

Bus Driver

600
400
200
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 19 Injury Rate by Motor Vehicle Type between 1999 and 2009
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

The population-based injury rate of drivers and passengers for different transport modes based on
different age and gender groups are demonstrated in Figure 20 through Figure 25. Figure 20 showsthat male car drivers aged between 18 and 64 had a relatively higher injury rate compared with theirfemale counterpart drivers. Male car drivers aged 65 or above also had a higher injury rate than female
drivers of the same age, and the injury rate of these elderly male drivers were just a little lower thanfemale drivers aged 25-64. The changes of injury rates over the past ten years revealed that male car
drivers aged 18-24 and 25-64 both demonstrated a sharp rise between 1999 and 2005, which is thenfollowed by an obviously downward trend since 2006, and male car drivers aged 25-64 took thehighest rate of injury in the recent two years.

Moreover, male car drivers aged 65 or above andfemale drivers aged 18-24 also increased slowly but steadily over the ten-year period.
Motorcycle rider injuries per one hundred thousand persons, as shown in Figure 21, is extraordinarily
higher than any other kind of drivers or passengers of the same age and gender combinations as shownin Figure 20, and Figure 22 through 25. Over the last ten years, except for unlicensed male and female
riders aged 13-17 having a stable pattern, all the other age and gender combinations revealed an
obviously increasing trend in injury rates, and the increasing trend was relatively significant for young
rider aged 18-24 for both genders (see Figure 21). In 2009, motorcycle riders aged 18-24 experienced
3,087 injuries for male and 1,890 injuries for female riders per one hundred thousand persons
respectively.
Bicycle riders also experienced an increasing injury rate over the last ten years. It should be noted thatbicycle riders aged 13-17 and aged 65 or over had a relatively higher injury rate, especially for male90

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

bicycle riders.
For the pedestrian part in Figure 23, both elderly genders aged 65 or greater as pedestrians show ahigher injury rate than their young counterparts. The population-based injury rate of older pedestrians
were a little higher than older bicycle riders, but different from older bicycle riders, elderly female
pedestrians experienced a higher injury rate as compared to their elderly male counterparts. The
reverse results in bicycle riding and walking injury risk between elderly genders may be caused by thedifference in exposure to these two means of traffic.
As for passengers seated in passenger cars in Figure 24, young passengers aged 18-24 for both genders
seemed to have a higher injury rate. The injury rate for young female passengers was even higher thantheir young male counterparts. Figure 25 shows that besides the age 18-24, younger motorcycle
passengers with relatively high injury rates also extended to passengers aged 13-17. Both young
female motorcycle passengers aged 13-17 and aged 18-24 had a higher injury rate than their malecounterparts of the same age since 2003. Female motorcycle passengers aged 18-24 experienced an
extraordinarily high rate of accident injuries. In addition, it should also be noted that children aged
under 12 as a passenger for both genders underwent a slow but steady increasing trend of injury rates
since 2003.

Injuries/ 100,000
Persons

140

Passenger Car DriverAge 18-24
Age 25-64

120

Age 65+
Age 18-24
Age 25-64

100

Age 65+

Age 25-6480
Age 18-24

60
40
20
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 20 Injury Rate by Age of Passenger Car Driver between 1999 and 2009
(Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

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Injuries/ 100,000
Persons

3,500
3,000
2,500

Motorcycle Rider
Age 13-17

Age 18-24

Age 25-64

Age 65+

Age 13-17

Age 18-24

Age 25-64

Age 65+

Age 18-24

2,000

Age 18-24

1,500
1,000
500
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 21 Injury Rate by Age of Motorcycle Rider between 1999 and 2009
(Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

Bicycle Rider

Injuries/ 100,000 Persons

180

Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+
Age 13-17
Age 25-64

160
140

Age 13-17
Age 25-64
Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+

Age 65+120
100

Age 13-17

Age 65+8060

Age 13-17

40
20
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Year

Figure 22 Injury Rate by Age of Bicycle Rider between 1999 and 2009
(Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

92

2009

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Injuries/ 100,000
Persons

200

Pedestrian
Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+
Age 13-17
Age 25-64

180
160

Age 13-17
Age 25-64
Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+

Age 65+

140
120
Age 65+

100
80
60
40
20
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 23 Injury Rate by Age of Pedestrian between 1999 and 2009
(Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

Injuries/ 100,000
Persons

Passenger (in Passenger Car)

200
180
160
140

Age 0-12

Age 13-17

Age 18-24
Age 65+

Age 25-64
Age 0-12

Age 13-17
Age 25-64

Age 18-24
Age 65+120
100
80
Age 18-24

60

Age 18-24

40
20
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Year

2005

2006

2007

2008

Figure 24 Injury Rate by Age of Passenger Seated in Passenger Car
between 1999 and 2009 (Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

93

2009

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Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Injuries/ 100,000
Persons

600

Passenger (in Motorcycle)
Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+
Age 13-17
Age 25-64500

Age 13-17
Age 25-64
Age 0-12
Age 18-24
Age 65+

Age 18-24400
300

Age 13-17

200
100
0
1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year

Figure 25 Injury Rate by Age of Passenger Seated in Motorcycle
between 1999 and 2009 (Blue: Male, Red: Female)
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

3.3 International Comparisons
As mentioned earlier, the trend of accident fatalities in Taiwan diminished over the past ten years,
while accident injuries increased in the same period. Fatality rates have been one of the most common
indicators for international comparisons, even though some advanced countries are extending theirfocus on accident injury prevention, such as the European Union (EU) (European Commission, 2010).
To compare traffic safety performance with other developed countries, we use the estimated 30-days
fatality data to demonstrate population-based fatality rates from 1998 to 2008 (i.e. Taiwan with datafrom 2003 to 2008) in Figure 26 (detailed facts can be found in Appendix 7). Figure 26 indicates that
Taiwan had 191 fatalities per million persons in 2006 and reduced to 150 in 2008. Compared with thecountries with the best performance such as Sweden, United Kingdom, Japan, and Norway with 50 or
fewer fatalities per million persons in 2008, the traffic fatality rate in Taiwan was three times greater.
The traffic fatality rate in Taiwan also had 1.8-1.9 times more than the average of Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and EU. Thus, even with the reduction of
fatality rates in recent years, Taiwan still appears to have much to improve, especially concerning thespecific issues relating to motorcycle use, elderly road users, and the leading accident cause producedby drunk driving.

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Fatalities/ per Million
Persons
250

United Kingdom
CanadaUnited States
TaiwanSweden
Eu-27
Japan
OECD total

New Zealand
Norway
Korea

200

150

100

50

0
1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

Year

Figure 26 International Comparison of 30-days Fatality Rate between 1998 and 2008
Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b)

4. Organizations for Traffic Safety
For promoting road traffic safety activities, Taiwan has established the National Road Traffic Safety
Committee (NRTSC) under the Ministry of Transportation & Communications (MOTC) in 1983. It
assumes the responsibility of planning and supervision of nationwide road traffic safety administrative
agencies, and also invites the representatives of central administrative agencies to form the Committee,
which meets regularly once a month. These representatives include the Ministry of Education,
Ministry of the Interior, Administration of Police (under the Ministry of the Interior), Government
Information Office (under Executive Yuan), Department of Health (under Executive Yuan), Taiwan
Area National Freeway Bureau (under MOTC), Directorate General of Highways (under MOTC),
Institute of Transportation (under MOTC) and 25 local governments concerned, as well as academic
and professional specialists. The Meeting of the Committee examines traffic safety problems andsupervises nationwide and city authorities in the implementation of their corresponding safety
programs. There are three functions of the Committee as follows:95Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Tsu-Hurng Yeh(1) To strengthen the planning of special programs for road traffic safety and the coordination andsupervision of its implementation;(2) To examine, supervise and monitor the planning, expenditures and implementation status ofsubsidized traffic safety programs for central and local administrative; and(3) To recommend the revision of road traffic safety regulations.
All the local governments have established their corresponding Task Forces in connection with theoperation of NRTSC. The freeways, provincial roads and some county roads are maintained andmanaged by the central agencies, while urban roads, most of county roads, and rural roads aremaintained and managed by the local agencies. The annual budget of NRTSC is based on 1.76% of thenationwide fuel tax revenue, approximating NT$0.3 billion (US$10 million) annually in recent years.
To support the mission of road safety improvements, in addition to the dedicated organization
established, MOTC has also set up and promoted "Improving Highway Traffic Order and Safety
Projects" triennially since 1982. The Projects, conducted by NRTSC, aims to enhance traffic order andsafety but also to reduce deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes. To
achieve their aims, NRTSC coordinates with central and local governments’ plans and annual
implementation programs through the connected links of traffic engineering, enforcement, education,
propaganda, and motor vehicles supervision, etc.
The ongoing 2011 Project belongs to the second year of the 10th triennial Project (from 2010 to 2012).
Three major issues are focused in recent years: reducing the accidents of the motorcyclists, seniorcitizens and drunk drivers. As a recent task, NRTSC has advocated the project “Pedestrian Right ofWay” since July 2010. This project promotes the concept of priority for pedestrians when motor
vehicles approach intersections. Other important programs that NRTSC continues focusing on are
engineering based improvements such as “Implementing the Projects of Accident-prone Locations
Improvement in Taiwan Area” and “Riding a motorcycle in order,” and enforcement based
improvements such as “Deterring Drunk from Driving”, “Promoting Motorcycle Helmets Use by
Enforcement and Education” and “Promoting the Concept of right of way Projects”. In addition toengineering based and enforcement based improvements, NRTSC has promoted through measures oftraffic propagandas to raise people’s awareness about road accident risks.

5. Changes in Traffic Safety Measures
5.1 Main Accident Causes
To further discuss changes in traffic safety measures in Taiwan, it is helpful to observe the trend of
main traffic causes in recent years. Figure 27 shows the changes of six main A1 accident causes
including drunk driving, careless driving, failing to yield, violating signals or signage regulations,inappropriate turning, and losing control out of speeding, over the past ten years. The number of the96Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

six main causes comprised about 60-70% of the total sum of main causes. Drunk driving has risen to
the peak in the year 2006, and though followed by a three-year decline, it remains to be the highest
cause since 2006. On the other hand, careless driving appears to have a decreasing trend. Failing toyield and violating signal or signage regulations slightly increased, while inappropriate turning slightly
decreased during the same period. The most dramatic change in main accident causes was losing
control out of speeding. Speeding was the second highest cause of accidents in 2000 and then dropped
to the fewest among the six main causes in 2009. However, since only one main cause was requested
to be recorded by the police, it is believed that speeding was usually underestimated and has remained
to be a serious problem in Taiwan.

No. per Year

Percent
Six Main A1 Accident Causes

800

100%

Drunk Driving

Careless Driving

700
Six Main A1 Causes%

600
500

80%

60%

400
300

40%

Failing to Yield

200

Violating Signal or
Signage Regulations

100

Inappropriate Turning

Losing Control out of
Speeding

0
2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

20%

0%

2009

Year

Figure 27 Six Main Accident Causes between 2000 and 2009
Source: National Road Traffic Safety Committee (2010)

5.2 Traffic Safety Measures
As mentioned earlier, triennially issued "Improving Highway Traffic Order and Safety Projects" hasbeen the principal guideline for traffic safety improvements followed by central and local governments
since 1982. The Projects basically emphasize the measures of the three Es (Engineering, Enforcement,
and Education), which are commonly applied to tackle traffic safety problems in international safety
communities. Enforcement, however, appears to be the most effective measure in Taiwan. The inverse
relationship between accident event rates and traffic violations cited or fined might strengthen theimage of the effectiveness of enforcement. In Figure 28, we can find the negative association between
event rates and traffic violations cited or fined during the period 2002-2010. From this, we can say theprincipal changes in traffic safety policies in Taiwan may be regarded as waves of amendments on

97

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traffic laws and regulations. In addition, the comparably large number of motorcycles and their highproportion of accident composition in Taiwan, which has resulted in special engineering design formotorcycle riders, may have unique safety implications.

500

Event Rate (Number/ 1,000
Vehicles)Cases of Violations Cited(100,000 Events)
Fine (NT$ 100 Million)

450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1966

1970

1974

1978

1982

1986

1990

1994

1998

2002

2006

2010

Year

Figure 28 The Relationships between Accident Event Rate, Traffic Violation
Cited and Fined between 1966 and 2010
Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011)

5.2.1 Law amendments
Several waves of law amendments in Taiwan for accident prevention has been thought effective,
including mandatory helmets for motorcyclists, mandatory seatbelts for front seat occupants of cars,
and stricter punishments for drunk driving.
Mandatory restrain use laws for motorcycle riding and automobile driving was not enacted until theyear 1996 and 1985 respectively (see Table 3). Motorcycle helmet wearing was encouraged throughpromotions and campaigns in 1981, but there were no punishments for violators at that time.
Mandatory helmet wearing law with a fine for motorcyclists took effect in 1996. Car seatbelt fastening
law was enacted only for front seat occupants travelling on freeways in 1985, and was expanded toinclude front seat occupants travelling on expressways in 1996, and general roads in 2001 respectively.
The fine for not fastening seatbelts on freeways is higher than any other types of roads. Together withmandatory seatbelt fastening for front seat occupants on general roads, mandatory law for baby carseats also took effect in 2001, and the fine was raised for violating car drivers in 2005. Following the
successful examples of international practices, mandatory seatbelt fastening will expand to include
back seat occupants in the upcoming 2012.
Although mandatory helmets and seatbelts were conducted over 15 years, the helmet wearing rates
and seatbelt fastening rates have never been investigated through a large scale sampling survey. A

98Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

recent convenient sampling survey (Institute of Transportation, 2012) showed that restraint use
measures should be even more emphasized, since even with a low not-wearing rate(<5%), theunsuitably fastening rate is still high(>15%) for motorcyclists, and in addition, a high not-fastening
rate for front seat occupants(ranging from 5% to over 60%) and a extremely high not-fastening rate forback seat occupants(>95%) reveals that there is much room for improvement in various cities in
Taiwan.

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Table 3 Law Amendments for Mandatory Helmet and Seatbelt Wearing

TargetMotorcycle
HelmetWearing

Car

Time
July 17th, 1981

Amendment Contents◆Specific regulations for encouraging helmet wearing
were enacted, but there were no punishments forviolators.

December
1996◆ Mandatory helmets for both riders and passengers tookeffect, and violators were fined 500 NT dollars.

31th,March 1st, 1985

◆ Mandatory seatbelts for front seat occupants running on
freeways took effect (defined by traffic regulations on
freeways), and violators were fined 500 NT dollars.
(The amount of fine was raised to 1,000 NT dollars on
May 13th, 1986, and to 3,000 NT dollars on December
31th, 1996).

December
1996

31th,

◆ Mandatory seatbelts for front seat occupants runningon expressways took effect and violators were fined
1,500 NT dollars.

January 2nd, 2001

◆ Mandatory seatbelts for front seat occupants expanded
to general roads and violators were fined 1,500 NT
dollars.
◆ Car drivers violating the mandatory rule for baby carseats were fined 500 NT dollars.
◆ Violating mandatory seatbelts for front seat occupantsrunning on freeways was formally defined by traffic
law but no further adjustment was made to the amountof fine (3,000 NT dollars).

December
2005◆ The fine of violating the mandatory rule for baby carseats was raised to 1,500-3,000 NT dollars.
◆ The baby car seats applying for children aged under 4
or weight under 18 kg was clearly defined.

Seatbelt
Fastening

9th,

April 22th, 2011
(taking effect in
2012)

◆

Mandatory seatbelts expanded to back seat car
occupants.

◆The fine of violating the mandatory seatbelt wearing on
expressway was raised to 3,000 NT dollars, comparablewith freeways.
Source: The Legislative Yuan: Legal System Database (2012)100

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Law amendments for drunk driving has always been the main focus, since drunk driving has been thefirst two main causes of traffic crashes since 2002. Two types of laws were amended against drunk
drivers in Taiwan: Administrative and Penalty Law respectively. The BAC standard for drunk drivers
in administrative law is 0.05% (defined by the traffic regulations), and BAC standard for drivers that“cannot safely drive” while intoxicated is not rigidly defined in penalty law but 0.11% is thepractically accepted number by most of the judges.
Administrative law against drunk driving has been extensively amended since 1996. The scope of thelaw was expanded to drugged drivers and suspected drivers refusing to take the alcohol breath test.
The license suspension and revocation measures were used, and the fines for violators were largely
increased (see Table 4). The life-time license revocation was adopted in the Administrative Law in1996 under the conditions that the accident caused a victim severe injury or death, but was abandonedin 2005 because it was against the authorization by the Constitutional Law. However, a longer period
for license revocation was still applied. Penalty law for punishing drunk driving took effect in 1999
and the recent amendment in 2011 has increased the fines and imprisonment durations for serious
drunk drivers (see Table 5).

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Table 4 Administrative Law Amendments for Drunk Driving

Law Type
Administrative
Law for Drunk
Driving

Time
July 11th,
1975

Amendment Contents◆ Drunk drivers were fined 300-600 NT dollars andrestricted driving on the scene.
◆ The license for drunk drivers were also revoked for 3
years on conditions that the accident caused a victim
severe injury or death. (i.e. The definition of drunk
driving is defined as BAC over 0.05%.)

May 13th,1986◆ The fines for drunk drivers were raised to 900-1,800
NT dollars.

December
31th, 1996◆

January
2nd, 2001◆ The fines for drunk drivers, drugged drivers andsuspected drivers refusing to take the alcohol breath
tests were raised to 16,000-60,000 NT dollars.
◆ The suspension duration for the above violators’
licenses were extended from 6 months to one year
without causing any other injuries and from one year to
two years with causing injuries.

December
9th, 2005◆

The fines for drunk drivers were raised to
6,000-12,000 NT dollars.
◆ Drugged drivers and suspected drivers refusing to takethe alcohol breath test were also be fined 6,000-12,000
NT dollars..
◆ The license for the above violators were suspended for6 months without causing any other injuries and one
year when causing injuries.
◆ The licenses for the above violators were revoked forlife-time on conditions that the accidents caused a
victim severe injury or death.
◆ The sentence for imprisonment duration were extended
by half on conditions that an unlicensed or drunk drivershould receive a penalty law when they caused a victim
severe injury or death.

Regardless of causing injuries, the licenses forcommercial heavy vehicle drivers were revoked for 4
years on conditions that they drove while intoxicated.
◆ The life-time license revocation for drunk drivers,
drugged drivers and suspected drivers refusing to takethe alcohol breath test were lifted because life-time
revocation had been declared against the Constitutional
Law and were revoked for 8 years, 10 years, and 12
years on conditions that the accidents caused a victim
injuries, severe injuries and death, respectively.
Source: The Legislative Yuan: Legal System Database (2012)102Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Table 5 Penalty Law Amendments for Drunk Driving

Law Type
Penalty Law for
Drunk Driving

Time
March 30th,
1999

Amendment Contents◆ A driver taking drug, alcohol or similar substanceand cannot safely drive would receive at most
one-year imprison sentence, custody or at most
30,000 NT dollars. (i.e. The definition of“cannot safely drive” is practically regarded as
BAC over 0.11% or over and is through theverdict by the judge.)

December
18th, 2007

◆ The fine was extended to at most 150,000 NT
dollars.

November 9th,2011

◆ At most one-year imprisonment sentence was
extended to two years and would be extended to 6
months to 5 years and one to 7 years on
conditions that the accident caused a victim
severe injury or death respectively.
◆ The fine rose to at most 200,000 NT dollars.
Source: The Legislative Yuan: Legal System Database (2012)
From a chronological perspective (see Figure 29), mandatory law for helmet wearing in 1996 appeared
to have a significant effect on reducing crash deaths. Followed by the amendments of Penalty Law in1999 and fine rises in 2001 for drunk driving, and together with mandatory law for seatbelt fastening
in 2001, the fatalities steadily went downward. However, traffic accident fatalities increased with areversing trend since 2003 till 2006.
In 2005, law amendments on speeding higher than 60 km/h of the speed limit was attributed todangerous driving and violators would be fined 6,000-24,000 NT dollars, but it seemed no evidence
that the second wave of fatality reduction between 2006 and 2010 was contributed by an effective
speed management. On the contrary, the 2005 law amendments for general speeding enforcement also
limited the enforcement flexibility of the police since the position of the fixed speed cameras should
be informed in advance ahead of the cameras. Though without scientific evidence, it is believed thatthe fatality reduction between 2007 and 2010 was due to the heavier enforcement by the police on
drunk driving, red-light running, and several violation behaviors since the beginning of 2007.

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Person8,000

1996 Life-time License
Revocation for Serious
Drunk Driving

7,000
6,000
5,000

1996 Mandatory
Helmet Law

2001 Rising Fines for
Drunk Driving
2005 Rising Fines forDangerous Speeding

1999 Penalty Law
for Drunk Driving

4,000

2001 Mandatory
Seatbelt Law

3,000
2,000
1,000
0
1991

Police-reported Fatality (within 24 hr)
Medical System Reported Fatality
Estimated Fatality (within 30 days)
1994

1997

2000

2003

2006

2009

Year

Figure 29 Major Traffic Law Amendments between 1991 and 2010
Source: Department of Health (2011), Institute of Transportation (2011a), Ministry of Transportation
and Communications (2011) and The Legislative Yuan: Legal System Database (2012)

5.2.2 Special engineering design for motorcycle running
As mentioned before, motorcycle riders have comprised a big portion of all injured accidents, and alsosustained severe accident outcomes. Densely mixed with cars, motorcycle riders may experience ahigher accident risk. Thus, some special designs for segregating the running of motorcycles withengines sized under 250 cc and cars have been applied in Taiwan (see Table 6). For intersectionalsegregation measures, a two-phased left-turning, together with applying the inner prohibited lanes formotorcycle riders requires the left-turning riders to wait temporarily in front of the stop line of thetransverse direction, and to start when the green light of that direction turns on. It is usually installed ina running direction with over two lanes. In addition, a motorcycle exclusive stopping area behind thestop line offers motorcycle riders an isolated space in front of cars when waiting for a green light.
Motorcycle exclusive lane offers a separate lane space dedicated to motorcycle riders and a priority
lane also offers a separate lane space mostly for motorcycle riders unless cars have to pass through forthe purpose of parking along the curbs or turning right in the approaching intersection. Limited byroad space, a two-phased left turning, inner prohibited lanes and exclusive stopping areas behind thestop line are more likely to be installed than motorcycle exclusive or priority lanes.
According to Yeh’s (2011) study on motorcycle injury likelihood on different positions of the roads
using the 2009 A1 and A2 accident data, inner fast moving lanes for cars (i.e. usually motorcycle
running prohibited) had 51% higher and motorcycle priority lane had 28% higher injury likelihood as104

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Tsu-Hurng Yeh

compared with a slow moving lane (i.e. the rightmost lane with mixed traffic and 40 km/h speed limit
if installed), while motorcycle exclusive lanes had 14% lower injury likelihood compared to a slow
moving lane. In addition, compared with right turning movements at intersections, motorcycle direct
left turning also had 93% higher and straight running had 3 times higher injury risk. The results
showed that two-phased left turning and motorcycle exclusive lanes might provide a protectivefunction for motorcycle riders.

105Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Table 6 Special Traffic Engineering Design for Motorcycles

Special Type
Motorcycle Exclusive Lane

Time
November
30th, 1978

Motorcycle
Left Turning

Two-Phased

December
15th, 1989

Motorcycle
Lane

Prohibited

December
15th, 1989

Motorcycle Priority Lane

July 13th,
2000

Motorcycle Exclusive
Stopping Area

September
24th, 2003

Road Markings

Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications: Administrative Traffic Law and Regulation
Database (2012)106

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

6. Conclusions
The evolution of traffic safety performance in Taiwan has made a significant progress in reducing
crash deaths over the past two decades. It might be mainly contributed by several waves of law
amendments including mandatory helmet and seatbelt wearing as well as stricter punishments fordrunk driving. Stricter enforcements also played a crucial role for implementing these revised
regulations.
The effectiveness of a new revision of Penalty Law on stricter sentence of imprisonment and higherfines for serious drunk driving requires more detailed observations. In addition, motorcycle involved
accidents, which still covers a big portion and with severe outcomes, has become the principal target
for promoting traffic safety in Taiwan. However, some structural barriers such as the riders’ training
system and traffic engineering design still need to change to enhance the safety performance of
motorcycle riding. Along with the coming of aging society, the safety of elderly road users has been
inevitably becoming a high priority issue in Taiwan. More research, evaluations, and institutionalchanges on these safety issues need to done to face the upcoming challenges.

References:
National Road Traffic Safety Committee (2010). 2009 Annual Report of Road Traffic Safety. pp.18.
Taipei, Taiwan.
Council for Economic Planning and Development (2010). Estimating Taiwan’s Population between theYear 2010 and 2060. pp.18. ISBN 1728-6859. Taipei, Taiwan.
Department of Health (2011). Health Statistics of Taiwan’s Death Causes. Taipei, Taiwan.
(http://www.doh.gov.tw/CHT2006/DM/DM2_2_p02.aspx?class_no=440&now_fod_list_no=11962&level_no=4&doc_no=81298) (October 12, 2011)
European Commission (2010). Towards a European Road Safety Area: Policy Orientations on Road
Safety 2011-2020. Brussels, Belgium.
Institute of Transportation (2011a). Traffic Safety Facts: Fatalities within 24 Hours and Estimated 30
Days. Taipei, Taiwan. (http://talas-pub.iot.gov.tw/default.aspx) (October 1, 2011)
Institute of Transportation (2011b). Comparative Study on Traffic Accident Characteristics and Safety
Strategies and Countermeasures (1/2). pp.134-135 & 176-188. Taipei, Taiwan.
Institute of Transportation (2012). Comparative Study on Traffic Accident Characteristics and Safety
Strategies and Countermeasures (2/2). pp.59-60. Taipei, Taiwan. (in press)
The Legislative Yuan: Legal System Database (2012). Taipei, Taiwan. (http://lis.ly.gov.tw/lgcgi/lglaw)

107

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Tsu-Hurng Yeh(January 1st, 2012)
Ministry of the Interior (2011). Statistical Abstract of Taiwan’s Population. Taipei, Taiwan.
(http://www.moi.gov.tw/) (October 15, 2011)
Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2008). Taiwan’s Road Traffic Regulations. Taipei,
Taiwan.
Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011). Statistical Abstract of Taiwan’s
Transportation and Communications. Taipei, Taiwan. (http://www.motc.gov.tw/) (October 12, 2011)
Ministry of Transportation and Communications: Administrative Traffic Law and Regulation
Database (2012). Taipei, Taiwan.
(http://www.motc.gov.tw/mocwebGIP/wSite/ct?xItem=4240&ctNode=478&mp=1) (January 1st, 2012)
United Nations Economic and Social Council. Economic Commission for Europe (2003). Working
Party on Transport Statistics (Fifty-fourth session, 11–13 June 2003). Intersecretariat working groupon transport statistics (IWG). Report TRANS/WP.6/2003/6.
Yeh, Tsu-Hurng (2011). Feasibility Evaluations on Lifting the Motorcycle Prohibited Lanes andTwo-phased Left Turning Measures. pp.7-11. Working paper submitted to the Ministry ofTransportation and Communications. (not printed)

Author:Dr. Tsu-Hurng Yeh
Deputy Director,
Safety Division, Institute of Transportation,
Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), Taiwan
Dr. Yeh received his PhD in 2007 from the Department of Transportation Technology andManagement, National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan. His main research interests are human factors,
driver behavior, and policy analyses on road safety issues. He has published several papers inTransportation Research Part A, Part D, and Part F, Safety Science, and Accident Analysis andPrevention over the latest five years. In addition, he has also been invited to serve as a reviewer byprofessional journals.

108Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Appendix 1 Number of Population in Taiwan

Year
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

Total
15,927,167
16,223,089
16,579,737
16,882,053
17,202,491
17,543,067
17,866,008
18,193,955
18,515,754
18,790,538
19,069,194
19,313,825
19,509,082
19,725,010
19,954,397
20,156,587
20,401,305
20,605,831
20,802,622
20,995,416
21,177,874
21,357,431
21,525,433
21,742,815
21,928,591
22,092,387
22,276,672
22,405,568
22,520,776
22,604,550
22,689,122
22,770,383
22,876,527
22,958,360
23,037,031
23,119,772
23,162,123

Male
8,354,012
8,501,391
8,678,165
8,829,635
8,991,263
9,160,239
9,320,105
9,479,508
9,636,285
9,769,572
9,904,853
10,023,344
10,114,710
10,217,434
10,328,081
10,424,102
10,540,635
10,640,276
10,734,609
10,824,161
10,907,032
10,990,657
11,065,798
11,163,764
11,243,408
11,312,728
11,392,050
11,441,651
11,485,409
11,515,062
11,541,585
11,562,440
11,591,707
11,608,767
11,626,351
11,636,734
11,635,225

Source: Ministry of the Interior (2011).

109

Female7,573,155
7,721,698
7,901,572
8,052,418
8,211,228
8,382,828
8,545,903
8,714,447
8,879,469
9,020,966
9,164,341
9,290,481
9,394,372
9,507,576
9,626,316
9,732,485
9,860,670
9,965,555
10,068,013
10,171,255
10,270,842
10,366,774
10,459,635
10,579,051
10,685,183
10,779,659
10,884,622
10,963,917
11,035,367
11,089,488
11,147,537
11,207,943
11,284,820
11,349,593
11,410,680
11,483,038
11,526,898

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Appendix 2 Road Length and Road Density in Taiwan
Year
1966
1971
1976
1981
1986
1991
1996
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

Total
(KM)
15,04015,747
17,10017,522
19,88528,472
32,77835,75036,44537,01637,28937,91838,51739,28539,52140,30640,86041,383

Freeway
(KM)
─
─
44
373
382
382
484
608
718
789
872
901
912
954
954
993
993
993

Provincial
CountyRural
Exclusive
Urban
Road(KM) Road(KM) Road(KM) Road(KM) Road (KM)
2,264
2,471
3,892
3,981
4,107
4,062
4,246
4,447
4,515
4,573
4,621
4,680
4,721
4,843
5,000
5,024
5,092
4,984

2,733
2,725
2,332
2,330
2,612
2,613
2,533
2,455
3,401
3,426
3,426
3,359
3,360
3,358
3,360
3,484
3,518
3,544

9,762
10,216
10,45910,451
12,396
12,42912,465
12,475
11,63011,613
11,613
11,63911,653
11,654
11,654
11,56011,765
11,765

281
335
373
386
388
387
390
390
390
414
414
414
414
414
414
396
396
396

─
─
─
─
─
8,600
12,66015,375
15,791
16,201
16,343
16,925
17,45718,062
18,13918,84919,096
19,701Road
Density(M/KM 2)
─
─
─
─
─
791
910
993
1,012
1,028
1,036
1,053
1,070
1,091
1,098
1,119
1,135
1,149

Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011).
Appendix 3 Composition of Motor Vehicle in Taiwan
Light Truck
Motorcycle
Passenger Car
BusinessYear(Taxi
Private Business Private Business Private Business Only) Private Business Heavy-type Light-type
1952
10,710244
1,379 1,511
2,188
2,089
490 490
316
9
─
─
1956
16,753423
2,176 1,919
2,480
4,760
834 834
262
10
─
─
1961
56,774498
3,102 2,880
3,675
6,671
2,297 2,297
1,280
34
─
─
1966
152,636963
4,576 3,291
7,852
11,0388,171 8,171
3,816
781
─
─
1971
957,295 1,732
7,168 8,028 13,964
32,824 22,287 22,287 24,686
907
517,684 308,808
1976
2,347,298 2,661 11,063 19,145 22,619 127,416 43,568 43,568 85,514
2,575 1,710,500 299,198
1981
5,413,409 4,726 14,064 34,782 31,782 438,052 68,239 68,239 206,748
4,556 3,833,293 758,254
1986
8,696,045 5,976 15,722 46,350 39,771 956,625 90,035 90,035 327,427
4,664 5,419,023 1,775,179
1991 10,611,036 5,381 14,739 66,184 54,977 2,440,685 100,679 100,679 489,381
5,786 4,798,804 2,610,371
1996 14,273,465 3,487 18,285 81,964 73,776 4,039,649 106,826 106,826 615,966
6,178 5,455,570 3,828,344
2000 17,022,689 2,748 21,175 81,003 74,620 4,608,960 107,257 107,257 643,796
9,167 6,848,116 4,575,056
2001 17,465,037 2,580 21,473 81,813 73,327 4,720,641 104,940 104,940 665,718
9,815 7,131,438 4,601,764
2002 17,906,957 2,326 22,753 82,649 73,156 4,888,050 101,286 101,286 690,750 10,228 7,386,784 4,596,973
2003 18,500,658 2,196 23,432 83,912 73,244 5,071,981 97,752 97,752 717,915 10,709 7,759,650 4,607,214
2004 19,183,136 2,042 24,411 85,662 74,798 5,262,693 128,155 95,665 743,939 14,870 8,239,700 4,554,250
2005 19,862,807 1,883 25,084 88,049 76,199 5,495,693 138,669 94,278 770,659 18,563 8,746,286 4,448,979
2006 20,307,197 1,812 25,710 90,142 76,069 5,555,507 142,817 92,418 783,979 21,611 9,225,155 4,331,873
2007 20,711,754 1,793 25,568 91,050 72,954 5,567,687 145,155 89,738 787,361 24,285 9,762,555 4,180,918
2008 21,092,358 1,723 25,616 91,215 70,016 5,530,314 144,112 88,779 786,782 25,658 10,349,865 4,015,577
2009 21,374,175 1,909 25,758 91,543 67,269 5,559,247 145,065 88,589 792,288 35,667 10,749,348 3,854,982
2010 21,721,447 1,856 27,174 93,304 67,780 5,642,969 160,444 87,449 803,493 28,973 11,112,224 3,732,708
Grand
Total

Bus

Heavy Truck

Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011).

110

111

10,649,187

10,885,591

11,149,212

11,390,746

11,656,279

11,942,217

22,362,540

22,846,348

23,403,464

23,939,606

24,484,174

25,044,273

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

476,944480,982

483,240

485,604

486,501

485,169

482,931

482,090

479,541

473,474

465,117462,832

479,595

463,529

Subtotal

111,371

111,262

111,291

110,046

108,170

99,482

96,201

92,59388,79085,00882,46063,52945,931

38,200TractorTrailer

85,82884,72482,04580,447

79,18075,682

74,21872,832

70,94567,90567,826

72,163

91,77995,543

Bus

129,271

131,847

134,124

136,109

136,850

136,980

136,974

137,938

138,486

138,117

136,709

139,421

138,387

133,635

HeavyTruck

Professional Driver

Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011).

9,969,719

10,334,755

21,165,753

21,803,355

2004

9,611,677

20,509,658

2002

2003

8,692,270

9,023,240

1996

18,934,549

7,465,839

16,194,060

1991

19,583,958

5,717,706

12,743,375

1989

2000

4,766,627

11,119,592

Year

2001

Automobile
Grand Total
Total

9,851,824

9,487,629

9,132,136

8,549,766

8,227,153

7,003,007

5,238,111

4,303,098

Subtotal

150,474 11,465,273

153,149 11,175,297

155,780 10,907,506

159,002 10,663,608

162,301 10,399,090

173,025 10,164,018

175,538

178,727

181,320

182,444

178,122

187,719

203,498

196,151

SmallVehicle

Automobile Driver

36,47733,80831,47829,711

28,192

26,78825,18523,093

21,305

19,25018,157

11,750

4,259

2,589

TractorTrailer

112,703108,196

103,697

100,371

96,58593,291

89,207

83,297

77,74270,436

67,77357,444

41,96133,901

Bus

524,715

516,517509,645502,364

493,249

489,748478,777

463,279

446,380

414,289

400,630

323,294

225,769

187,688

HeavyTruck

Private Vehicle Driver

Appendix 4 Composition of Driver License in Taiwan

8,728,221

7,025,669

6,352,965

893,064

653,151

571,274

Light-type

9,802,092 1,095,889

9,487,453 1,073,265

9,185,365 1,056,914

7,835,157

6,372,518

5,781,691

Heavy-type

Motorcycle Rider

10,791,378 13,102,056 12,083,127 1,018,929

10,516,776 12,827,895 11,785,932 1,041,963

10,262,686 12,548,860 11,480,318 1,068,542

10,031,162 12,254,252 11,161,299 1,092,953

9,781,064 11,960,757 10,849,663 1,111,094

9,554,191 11,713,353 10,594,164 1,119,189

9,258,655 11,468,600 10,345,748 1,122,852

8,917,960 11,196,034 10,078,034 1,118,000

8,586,709 10,897,981

8,045,791 10,560,718

7,740,593 10,242,279

6,610,519

4,966,122

4,078,920

SmallVehicle

Motorcycle
Total

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)
Tsu-Hurng Yeh112

10,08810,517

10,072

8,630

4,729

3,619

52,95264,26486,259120,223

137,221155,814160,897

163,971

170,127

184,749

219,646

1971

1976

1981

1986

1991

1996

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2,047

2,092

2,224

2,573

3,140

2,894

2,634

2,718

2,861

3,344

3,388

2,990

3,305

4,139

3,840

3,087

1,780

948

Fatality(Person)293,793

246,994

227,423

216,927

211,176

203,087

179,108

156,303

109,594

80,612

66,895

2,939

4,308

9,983

13,377

14,792

13,412

7,793

Injury(Person)

1,973

2,016

2,150

2,463

2,999

2,767

2,502

2,572

2,725

3,142

3,207

3,619

4,729

8,630

10,072

10,517

10,088

6,045

Event
(Number)

2,047

2,092

2,224

2,573

3,140

2,894

2,634

2,718

2,861

3,344

3,388

2,990

3,305

4,139

3,840

3,087

1,780

948

Fatality(Person)

774

893

983

1,006

1,301

1,383

1,248

1,262

1,284

1,490

1,541

2,939

4,308

9,983

13,377

14,792

13,412

7,793

Injury(Person)A1 Accidents－
65,354
79,122
108,310155,041
177,860
201,704
209,875
215,921
226,440
246,101
293,019－
61,122
83,534
117,651
134,719
153,047
157,898
161,508
167,977
182,733
217,673－－－

49,745

－

－

－

－

－

－
－

－

Injury(Person)－Number(Event)A2 Accidents

Source: Ministry of Transportation and Communications (2011).

6,045

Number(Event)

1966

Year

Total

37.19
14.24
7.62
4.97
3.20
2.18

210.76
48.53
19.99
10.37
4.58
2.63

101.93

87.01

81.39

79.95

80.11

79.81

72.83

66.04

48.77

37.27

0.95

0.99

1.06

1.25

1.56

1.48

1.40

1.49

1.62

1.94

2.03

73.42

468.1931.76

Fatality Rate
(Number/ 1,000
Vehicles)Event Rate
(Number/ 1,000
Vehicles)Road Traffic Violations

136.34116.32108.80105.77105.14104.02

95.06

85.86

61.97

46.75

40.13

2.14

4.17

11.99

26.54

68.26

280.21603.58

9,918

11,027

11,957

12,493

12,067

11,966

12,336

13,781

17,931

20,192

21,987

20,538

8,083

－

－

－

－

－

16,104

16,73818,324

19,90819,064

20,547

20,344

21,932

24,50423,09620,003

10,713

3,009

－

－

－

－

－

Cases of
Injury Rate (Number/
Violations Cited Fine(NT$ Million)
1,000 Vehicles)(1,000 Events)

Accident Rate per Ten Thousand Vehicles

Appendix 5 Accident Frequency, Rate and Traffic Violations in Taiwan

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)
Tsu-Hurng Yeh

320
476
421
287
265
267
362
309
256
209
186
3,358

Fatality

3,107
6,646
6,370
6,256
9,853
11,001
12,83812,353
10,922
10,124
10,102
99,572

InjuryPassenger Car
Driver

87
143
98
74
82
74
98
83
74
69
43
925

Fatality

650
1,502
1,600
1,560
2,480
2,618
3,054
2,858
2,539
2,389
2,454
23,704

Injury
29
39
51
30
28
34
40
37
31
27
22
368

Fatality

Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b).

1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Total

Year
236
390
335
371
576
607
731
716
676
437
394
5,469

Injury
3
4
3
7
5
9
5
4
6
0
2
48

45
89
69
72
177
151
148
100
80
49
36
1,016

Fatality Injury

Injury933
17,5791,526
40,383
1,556
51,015
1,429
71,537
1,314
105,352
1,304
121,960
1,442
138,808
1,742
146,372
1,415
153,834
1,263
164,4151,186
179,096
15,110 1,190,351

Fatality
421
477
491
443
421
409
398
361
330
278
271
4,300

Fatality
1,821
4,488
5,173
6,447
8,570
9,867
10,88910,926
10,814
11,36911,51591,879Injury
134
200
205
168
160
170
142
183
141
139
140
1,782

Fatality
938
2,123
2,778
4,044
5,754
6,473
7,093
7,356
7,985
9,593
10,68664,823

InjuryAppendix 6 Numbers of Fatalities and Injuries by Transport Mode between 1999-2009
Light Truck
Heavy TruckBus Driver Motorcycle Rider
Pedestrian
Bicycle Rider
DriverDriverInjury444
4,742
493 10,946
472 12,341
384 15,319
350 21,813
315 24,983
337 27,940
367 29,214
282 28,518
218 29,053
219 30,725
3,881 235,594

Fatality

Passenger(all modes)

21
31
46
39
81
52
69
49
35
21
23
467

Fatality

149
297
374
426
1,711
1,440
1,576
1,387
1,272
1,239
1,339
11,210InjuryOther

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)113

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Tsu-Hurng Yeh

Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in Taiwan (1950-2010)

Appendix 7 Fatality Rate (per million population ) among Developed Countries
Year
Country
TaiwanUnited States
Korea
New Zealand
CanadaOECD total
Eu-27
NorwayJapan
United Kingdom
Sweden

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

─
154
226
132
97
120
123
79
95
62
60

─
153
232
134
98
117
120
68
92
62
65

─
149
218
121
95
114
117
76
93
62
67

─
148
171
118
90
109
112
61
89
63
65

─
149
152
103
93
109
110
68
85
63
63

164
147
151
115
87
103
103
61
78
62
59

174
146
136
107
85
99
96
56
75
57
53

191
147
132
99
91
96
91
49
70
55
49

193
143
131
95
89
93
87
52
65
55
49

163
136
127
100
83
90
86
49
52
50
51

150
123
121
86
82
82
79
53
47
43
43

Note: No. of fatalities is based on (or estimated) 30-days.

Source: Institute of Transportation (2011b).

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