離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Scramble crossings sought at intersections
A sign at an intersection in New Taipei City indicates the times when all-direction pedestrian-only crossing is enforced. Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Transportation Department
NATIONWIDE EFFORT: Hualien officials said redesigned intersections could affect traffic, so it might take time to figure out how the signals should be coordinated
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday asked local governments to quickly implement scramble crossings at all intersections nationwide after a three-year-old girl was killed on a pedestrian crossing in Tainan on Monday.
“I feel deeply sorry for the incident,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai （王國材） said. “The government failed to protect pedestrians’ right to cross streets.”
The girl was crossing at the intersection of Chenggong and Sinyi roads with her mother, a 38-year-old surnamed Lee （李）, shortly before 10am when a 36-year-old woman surnamed Tu （杜） driving a dark blue sedan made a left turn onto Chenggong Road and collided with the two, police said on Monday.
Wang said that the ministry on Tuesday asked local transportation officials to quickly install scramble crossings — which allow pedestrians to cross in any direction with all traffic signals for vehicles red.
“This means that when pedestrians are given the green light, all vehicles would have red lights to allow safe crossing,” he said. “This would ensure that pedestrians are not hit by turning vehicles.”
Scramble crossings are widely used in other countries.
Separately, the Hualien County Government is installing new traffic signals at three intersections in downtown Hualien that would allow scramble access.
“As the design could affect traffic flows in the downtown area when there is high traffic volume, we might need time to figure out how the signals should be coordinated,” Hualien Construction Department Director Teng Tzu-yu （鄧子榆） said.
“We will first install signals that pedestrians can use by pressing a button when they want to cross.”
A trial for the new signals is scheduled for the second half of this year, Teng said.
The Directorate-General of Highways plans to have signals with pedestrian-only crossing at five intersections near bus stations and hospitals by the end of this year — one in New Taipei City, one in Nantou County, one in Hualien County, one in Tainan and one in Kaohsiung.
In addition to pedestrian-only crossing, the intersections would feature other pedestrian-friendly designs, the highway authority said, adding that they would be examples for other local administrations to follow.
Pedestrians should be given 25 seconds to cross a 20m-wide road, it said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai speaks to reporters before a committee hearing at the legislature in Taipei on Wednesday. Photo: Tien Su-hua, Taipei Times
Pedestrian-only crossing times are printed on a crossing in Taichung in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
