Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-03
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation announced Saturday that daytime running lights should be fitted to
(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
all new types of passenger cars and motorcycles starting 2017 and 2018, respectively, meaning drivers and riders have to keep either their daytime running lights or headlights on during daytime in the coming years.
A daytime running light is an automotive lighting device on the front of a vehicle. Starting January 1, 2017, new motorcycles are mandated to be equipped with daytime running lights or automatic headlights, followed by passenger cars starting January 1, 2018, and trucks and buses from 2019.
Vehicles without either of them are not allowed to hit the road after the rule has entered into force. However, the new rule is not applicable to the vehicles in use, meaning those with a vehicle registration plate.
The ministry cited the data from European countries to support the new regulation, saying headlights on during daytime have been proven to significantly reduce the risk of road crash by 5.9 percent, which can be translated into a decrease of 26 fatalities and 6,668 casualties a year in Taiwan based on official road crash statistics for 2011. [FULL STORY]