TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — One day after the National Police Agency announced all drivers would be required to yield at zebra crossings if pedestrians were using them, Taiwan’s transport minister said the requirement was too strict and it would not be implemented so peremptorily.

After the policy was announced, transport minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) quickly got hold of the police and the interior ministry on Wednesday (June 21), saying the policy would seriously hinder the smooth flow of traffic, per CNA,. Wang said on Thursday that next week inter-agency discussions will focus on deciding how far away a pedestrian on a zebra crossing must be from a car that wishes to cross it.

The proposed change to zebra crossing regulations, which has now been scrapped in the interest of maintaining traffic flow. (Taiwan News image)

The transport ministry said June 16 that a range of measures would be put in place to improve traffic conditions, including the now scrapped zebra crossing regulation. It would also increase the number of compulsory road safety lessons for drivers who break the road rules.

Currently the lessons are mandatory for those who have had their license suspended, intoxicated drivers, unlicensed drivers, people who leave children in cars unattended, and drivers who intentionally drive dangerously.

In the future, the range of violations that will incur mandatory road safety lessons will be expanded to include repeatedly failing to yield to pedestrians and evading police traffic stops. New drivers who incur more than six demerit points within one year will also be required to take lessons.

The new regulations were expected to come into effect on June 30, though Wang said a new timetable for the implementation of the new road safety regulations will be announced on Monday (June 26).

According to government statistics, traffic accidents reached a 10-year high in 2022, and claimed 3,085 lives. In the first quarter of this year, 812 people died on Taiwan’s roads, 103 of which were pedestrians.