Wang Guocai said that Shen Huihong (pictured), the former deputy mayor of Hsinchu City, has been invited to serve as the counselor of the Ministry of Communications to fully supervise the project of reducing pedestrian accidents in the Road Safety Committee.

(file photo)

[Central News Agency] The cabinet was reshuffled, and Minister of Transportation Wang Guocai remained in office. He said in a discussion with reporters this afternoon that he had invited Shen Huihong, the former deputy mayor of Hsinchu City, to serve as a counselor of the Ministry of Communications to fully supervise the project of reducing pedestrian accidents in the Road Safety Committee.

Wang Guocai said at the Chinese New Year press conference before the Lunar New Year that because traffic fatalities continued to rise, the number in 111 was higher than that in 110, and the policy he was most dissatisfied with was road safety work, especially pedestrian traffic accidents that killed 300 to 400 people every year.

Please read on...

Wang Guocai said today that improving road safety is still the focus of this year's work. He has invited Shen Huihong to serve as the counselor of the Ministry of Communications and supervise the projects related to reducing pedestrian accidents in the road safety committee, including monitoring the improvement situation and evaluation of various counties and cities.

Wang Guocai mentioned at the New Year's press conference that he hoped that traffic accident deaths this year would be reduced by 5% compared with 2011; he said today that he hopes to perform better, and road safety work is very complicated. In the long run, it will be a cultural change. In 2019, teaching materials from elementary school to high school have been included in the road safety curriculum, but this is a long-term work, and there is no rush; the short-term part needs to be improved through road engineering, including intersection design, sign marking, and law enforcement. The government should try harder.

A few days ago, there were many traffic accidents in which vehicles were not polite to pedestrians. Wang Guocai said that he hoped that drivers of automobiles and motorcycles would treat pedestrians on the road as their relatives and friends, so that they would have a more cautious attitude when driving.

Wang Guocai also mentioned that transportation in remote villages is also the focus of the Ministry of Communications' administration. He believes that justice in remote villages is very important, and the number of carpools for Happiness Batu, Xiaohuang and Pupu will continue to increase.