Mayor Chu calls for measures to force motor scooters out of arcades
New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu at a road traffic safety conference today expressed his concern for scooters parking on sidewalks and under arcades. Reasoning that arcades and sidewalks, especially arcades, are the main walking space for pedestrians, he demanded Transportation Department and Police Department to step up on improving conditions in areas where pedestrian walkways are heavily occupied by illegal scooter parking.
According to Mayor Chu, arcades and sidewalks along Zhongshan Road and Fuzhong shopping district are heavily obstructed by scooters, which force pedestrians to walk in the road with danger. He ordered Transportation Department and Police Department to come up with a schedule to crack down illegal scooter parking so that pedestrians can walk on sidewalks or under arcades without hindrance.
In response to Police Department’s report on its “Dangerous Driving Prevention Project”, Mayor Chu said the traffic police need to enhance crackdown on illegal speeders, especially the infamous “speeding gangs”. By tracking down juvenile members of the speeding gang and sending school officers as well as teachers for discipline, the juvenile delinquency prevention team can effectively exhort delinquent students not to participate in underage driving, illegal speeding, and other gang activities.
Mayor Chu also commented on Sanchong District Office and Pinglin District Office’s report on traffic maintenance, saying that the most important part of the traffic maintenance plan is to enact a flexible working schedule to avoid causing traffic congestion. He stressed that road workers should consider the possibility of causing traffic congestion instead of just working convenience when deciding on their working hours.
Finally, Mayor Chu asked the traffic police to check on and rectify road constructions scheduled on inappropriate hours so that drivers can have less encounters of traffic congestion caused by road construction.