Educational training for first-time motorists to reinforce positive behaviors
Educational training for first-time motorists to reinforce awareness
New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu attended the April road safety review today (4/29). He commended the Transportation Department for its “First-time licensee pre-grant” educational training. The mayor also reminded the department officials to conduct post-training analysis and review to ensure improvements and to guarantee the most effective transfer of knowledge in proper on-road behaviors.
The Deputy Director of the Taipei Motor Vehicle Supervision Office (under the Directorate General of Highways of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication) pointed out that past driving tests emphasized performance in a closed-off test area. This has not been effective in conveying proper road behaviors to new motorists. Starting from November 1st of 2014, the Directorate General started holding safety education sessions for motorists to reduce the potential of accidents.
Mayor Chu said that motorcycle is a common mode of transportation, and the number of motorcycle accidents makes up more than 50% of all traffic accidents. Furthermore, within motorcycle accidents, the number of accidents involving persons in the age range 18 to 24 is proportionally higher. Thus, the mayor said that educational training before the driving test is very important in conveying proper on-road knowledge. The training must also be coupled with post-training review and analysis to review and adjust the content of the training. The mayor also said that such training could be included into the academic curriculum to help reinforce proper on-road concepts among the youth.
During the meeting, Mayor Chu presented the award “2014 Annual Road Safety Reporter Award,” which is encouragement to the citizens for reporting road safety issues. Every year, 5 top prizes and 30 participant prizes are randomly drawn from the pool of all traffic safety reporters. Today, the mayor presented the winners of the top prize, and he especially thanked these citizens for reporting road issues, which aided the city government in quickly addressing problems such as potholes and uneven road surfaces. For two consecutive years, New Taipei City has been awarded second place in the national review of “Best Smooth Roads.” The mayor said that the city is looking forward to more improvements, and he asked all of the city government colleagues to continue working on these issues.
For more information: Transportation Department; Jiang, Xianxun, Telephone: 1999 or (02)2960-3456 ext. 6909