Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) says the government has a plan to improve pedestrian safety in Taiwan. Chen made the comments during a road inspection ceremony on Monday.
The previous day, many people braved the rain to protest in front of the Presidential Office, demanding safer pedestrian conditions in Taiwan. The protest comes after multiple highly publicized road fatalities and injuries led local and foreign media to refer to Taiwan as a “hell” for pedestrians.
Minister of Transportation Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) attended the protest on Sunday and promised to complete the improvement of 600 accident-prone intersections across Taiwan by the end of next year.
On Monday, Chen said that the legislature has passed traffic safety agendas at the four levels of engineering, education, supervision, and law enforcement. He added that the government plans to invest NT$40 billion (US$1.3 billion) over a four-year period in pedestrian safety programs. He called on cities and counties around the island to actively put forward plans to solve pedestrian safety issues.