Lazy ASE road safety punishes safe driversBy Shiao Fu-song 蕭福松The Average Speed Enforcement (ASE) system has been implemented at the 4.7km-long Siaoma (小馬) section in Taitung and the 2km Shueilian (水璉) section of the Hualien-Taitung Coastal Highway (花東海岸公路) since Sept. 1. Setting an ASE system at the Shueilian section has little effect on drivers, as the section is a mountain road and the ASE system there only covers 2km. Nonetheless, the full length of ASEs at the Siaoma section is 4.7km with a speed limit of 50km per hour. The setting of an ASE system not merely troubled residents but also seemed to be a rip-off. ASEs were meant to reduce illegal driving, but safe drivers have suffered from the “collective punishment.”Consequently driving has become a strange and unusual punishment in itself.
