[The Epoch Times, November 16, 2023](The Epoch Times reporter Lai Yourong reported in Tainan, Taiwan) Tainan City Councilor Guo Hongyi held a municipal general inquiry on the 15th. He cited statistics from the Road Safety Committee of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. Elderly motorcyclists are the leading cause of accidents and deaths caused by elderly drivers. The “hardest hit area” in 2022, motorcycles accounted for 68% of the elderly who died in traffic accidents in 2022, and 56% of the elderly who died due to traffic accidents were motorcycle riders; while the number of traffic accident deaths among the elderly in Tainan City accounted for about 45% of the total death toll Above, these data show that the transportation problem of the elderly must be faced squarely.
Guo Hongyi believes that the first problem to be solved is to improve the human-oriented transportation environment. Taiwan’s road design has been slow to keep up with the pace of aging. Elderly people are often the most vulnerable group in transportation. Compared with children, they are accompanied by adults, but the elderly are not People often walk on their own, so it is urgent to improve the shelter island of the human-oriented environment space and increase the eye-catching indicator system.
Guo Hongyi also pointed out legal issues, such as the revision of the key points of urban human-oriented transportation design in Taoyuan, the sixth capital, the Kaohsiung City Government’s autonomous regulations on arcade management and use, and the Taipei City Pedestrian Area Development, Management and Maintenance Measures, etc., all of which include human-oriented transportation. At the legal level, he hopes that Tainan City can also revise relevant rules as soon as possible to strengthen and protect the rights and interests of pedestrians.
Regarding the transportation issues of the elderly, another problem is that elderly drivers gradually reduce their driving judgment as they age. Guo Hongyi believes that to reduce elderly driving, we must expand the popularity of public transportation and subsidize non-private transportation such as taxis. etc., and called on the central government to lower the license renewal age.
However, before the central government amends the law, he suggested that the Health Bureau and the Transportation Bureau can be combined to propose a “driving safety identity card” to encourage elders over 65 years old to voluntarily receive free physical examinations, cognitive function tests and traffic safety promotions, so that the elders can understand their physical fitness It can also provide peace of mind to family members.
Guo Hongyi’s general municipal inquiry was titled “Is Tainan ready when we grow old together?” He reminded Mayor Huang Weizhe’s team to consider the actual daily needs of the elderly, including transportation issues for the elderly, employment issues for the elderly, and care issues for the elderly. The three major aspects are discussed and Tainan’s areas for improvement are highlighted.
The trend of working for the elderly and the hidden worries about the employment of the elderly
According to a survey by the General Accounting Office, the number of silver-haired employees will reach 1.031 million in 2022, accounting for nearly 10% of the total employment. Guo Hongyi said that Tainan City has the highest elderly employment rate among the six cities. The labor ratio is over 65 years old, reaching 5.2%, with more than 30,000 people. However, the employment of elderly people has also become the target of job search fraud. In the workplace The competitiveness among enterprises is relatively weak, and it is easy for labor exploitation or violation of labor standards laws.
What’s even more serious is the problem of occupational accidents. Tainan City has the worst occupational injuries among the six cities. The frequency of disability injuries in Tainan City reaches 2.07 per million working hours. In other words, Tainan has the highest proportion of elderly workers, but it has the highest proportion of elderly workers. Guo Hongyi asked the Labor Bureau to treat dangerous urban jobs with caution. “Employment assistance” for the elderly, “workplace safety”, “labor rights” and “friendly workplace” are the focus of various labor affairs work.
In addition, after the series of long-term care tragedies broke out, Guo Hongyi believed that family care agreements and the entry of government long-term care resources can effectively alleviate the pressure on family caregivers; therefore, he suggested that in order to resolve family disputes, the Tainan City Mediation Committee should accept appropriate family Nursing and long-term care resource training, or setting up mediation committee members in the family care professional category at each district office mediation committee. ◇
Editor in charge: Zheng Hua
Tags: Traffic problems elderly looming face extremely high mortality rate Driving elderly Traffic accidents
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