By Lin Chih-yi
and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ National Freeway Bureau has issued safety guidelines for prescription drug users, saying that drivers taking common medicines could have impaired focus and are at heightened risk of traffic accidents.
Diminished ability to focus could be a side effect of sleeping aids, analgesics, pupil-dilating eye drops and muscle relaxers, as well as certain types of cold remedies, antihistamines, blood sugar or blood pressure drugs, and psychiatric medicines such as those used to treat depression or anxiety, Bureau Deputy Director-General Chou Ting-chang (周廷彰) said.
People should not drive if their medication causes sleepiness, fatigue, vertigo, blurry vision, slowed reflexes, loss of concentration, cold sweats, trembling, an irregular heartbeat or low blood sugar levels, Chou said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Drivers who do not feel well should immediately slow down and park their vehicle by the side of the road, he said.
Chou also urged people who take drugs that boost blood sugar levels to consider alternative transportation methods.
The bureau plans to coordinate with hospitals and local governments to ensure that people are informed if the medicines they take could impair their ability to drive, he said.
Separately, the bureau has launched a project to introduce a new street light scheme, in which yellow lights would be used to illuminate most of the roads’ lengths and white ones would mark street intersections, Chou said.
Yellow street lights have low glare, and the color contrast they form with white light sources could help drivers gauge their distance from the next intersection, he said.
White street lights have better illumination and grab attention, which increases driver alertness for pedestrians and other vehicles, he added.
The bureau earlier this year tested mixing yellow and white street light sources at seven intersections, and the trial results showed significant drops in the number of traffic accidents, Chou said.
Traffic Management Division Director Chiang Yu-feng (姜宇峰) said that, as of last month, the bureau had replaced street lights at 154 locations and expects the number to go up to 200 by the year’s end.