Traffic deaths, injuries of foreigners nearly doubles in 5 years

Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) A member of Taiwan's supervisory branch of government said Monday that an investigation has been launched after data indicated that the number of foreign nationals killed or injured in traffic accidents nearly doubled from 2019 to 2023.

"Traffic safety has become an important issue of national security," said Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) in a statement, citing data from several agencies including the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Labor (MOL).

According to the official, the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic accidents rose from 6,213 in 2019 to 12,021 in 2023 -- an increase of 93.48 percent.

However, the number of foreign nationals residing in Taiwan only increased by around 8.5 percent from about 780,000 to 850,000 during the same period, said Yeh.

This indicates that the increase in traffic accidents involving foreign nationals "far exceeds" the growth of the foreign national population in Taiwan, Yeh said.

Vietnamese and Indonesians represent the biggest groups of non-Taiwanese killed or injured in traffic accidents in Taiwan, Yeh said.

Taoyuan and Taichung -- places with relatively large populations of foreign workers -- had the highest rates of traffic accidents involving foreign nationals of any cities in Taiwan, he said.

An investigation has been launched to examine whether inter-agency cooperation mechanisms can be improved, the official said, citing data suggesting "deficiencies" in the prevention of traffic-related deaths and injuries of foreign nationals.