HARD LESSONS:A writer said that other nations protect their consumers, but Taiwanese learn about vehicle safety by repeatedly conducting experiments ‘with their lives’

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 24, 2017
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

The government is mulling the establishment of a new car assessment program, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday, adding that the Vehicle Safety Certification Center is assessing ways such a program might be enforced.

The ministry issued the statement after the brakes of a concrete pumping truck on Wednesday apparently failed while it was going down Yangmingshan’s (陽明山) Yangde Boulevard, causing it to crash into oncoming traffic, killing four people and injuring nine.

Following the accident, writer Huang Shao-bo (黃邵博) published an opinion piece in the Chinese-language Business Weekly accusing the ministry of not caring about people’s lives.

Huang said that other nations promulgate new car assessment programs to protect their consumers, but Taiwanese learn about the importance of vehicle safety by repeatedly conducting collision experiments “with their lives.”    [FULL  STORY]