ROAD SAFETY/Taiwan called 'traffic hell' by road safety group

Taipei, Feb. 22 (CNA) A "walking festival" was held by a road safety advocacy group in Taipei on Saturday to urge the government to pay greater attention to pedestrian rights, with its chairperson calling Taiwan a "living hell for pedestrians" and an overall "traffic hell."

The two-and-a-half-hour event began at Beimen Plaza near Taipei Main Station. Participants marched through nearby streets as organizer Vision Zero Taiwan members along with road safety experts examined the area's traffic planning and road design.

Road safety in Taiwan "still has a lot of room for improvement," said Y.C. Wu (吳宜蒨), chairperson of Vision Zero Taiwan, adding that the point of the event was to push the government to take the issue seriously.

Following a 2023 Taipei march on road safety that drew tens of thousands of participants, it is evident that some local governments have paid more attention to the issue, Wu said, citing the release of the Taipei City Road Design Manual in January as an example.

"I hope other city and county governments will follow suit," she said, adding that local governments tend to adopt their own approaches to road safety based on local conditions, with the implementation of pedestrian safety infrastructure often hindered by opposition from some due to the inconvenience it may cause.

Asked if Taiwan is still a "living hell for pedestrians," as a 2022 CNN article stated, Wu said, "More or less," adding that a more concrete description would be a "traffic hell."

"It's not just pedestrians -- many road users, including drivers and motorcyclists, also suffer injuries due to poor road design," Wu said.

Viga Huang, one of the 50 event participants, said he became interested in road safety after a few accidents made him realize how Taiwan fails on the issue compared to other countries.

He said Taiwan's road planning is centered around cars, which makes pedestrians "the vulnerable group" when navigating the streets.

He added that European countries have more pedestrian-friendly infrastructure as they promote public transportation and walking over private car use.

The 33-year-old engineer, who works in Hsinchu, said that he estimates less than half of the roads outside Taipei have sidewalks.

Huang added that when sidewalks exist, they comprise green paint on the road and do not feel safe.

According to official data, 2,675 people, including 332 pedestrians, died in traffic accidents from January to November last year in Taiwan, which has a population of 23.4 million.

In comparison, data from the Hong Kong Police Force showed that the Chinese city -- home to around 7.5 million people, roughly one-third of Taiwan's population -- recorded 96 traffic-related deaths in 2023, including 62 pedestrian fatalities.