Driver fined for failing to yield to his own children on crosswalk

Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) A driver in Taiwan's Lienchiang County has been fined for failing to yield to his own son and daughter on a crosswalk, a coincidence that only came to light after he received a ticket with a photo of the violation that doubled as a "family portrait."

The man's son, surnamed Lee (李), recently shared a photo of the ticket on social media, which indicated that the incident occurred on the morning of Dec. 28.

"My dad got a NT$6,000 (US$183) fine for failing to yield to pedestrians. The pedestrians were me and my sister ..." he wrote in the post.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the post had received over 10,000 reactions on Threads, including several comments joking that the father had paid NT$6,000 for a "family portrait."

The driver's younger brother, also surnamed Lee, confirmed the basic details of the story to CNA on Wednesday.

He said his brother had just dropped his children off in front of the Nangan Fuao Port Terminal Building, and circled around the block only to encounter them again on a crosswalk, where he failed to yield.

Chen Teng-yao (陳登堯), head of a Special Police Corps unit at Lienchiang County Police Bureau, said the bureau had begun using a traffic enforcement camera in front of the port terminal building on Dec. 1.

Through Wednesday, the bureau has issued 71 tickets for illegal parking and failure to yield to pedestrians for violations captured on the camera, Chen said.

Taiwan has made efforts to improve pedestrian safety in recent years, following a number of high-profile accidents and a CNN article that referred to the country as a "living hell" for pedestrians.

In June 2023, Taiwan raised the maximum fine for failing to yield to pedestrians on a crosswalk or other designated area from NT$3,600 to NT$6,000, while leaving the minimum fine at NT$1,200.

The government has also set a goal of reducing pedestrian deaths by 50 percent by 2030. However, the 183 pedestrian deaths recorded from January to June 2024 represented a 5.8 percent increase from the same period in 2023, Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) data showed.

Twenty-one percent of pedestrian deaths in Taiwan occur when drivers hit them as they walk across crosswalks when there is a pedestrian green light, according to the MOTC.