Truck driver behind fatal crash in southern Taiwan had worked for 22 days straight

台灣南部國道肇事司機連上22天班

Truck driver responsible for fatal highway crash worked for 22 days straight with 66 hours of overtime and had minimal breaks between shifts


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- The truck driver responsible for a fatal crash on Monday (April 23) in Tainan City, was found to have worked for 22 days in a row, exceeded the limit on overtime hours and did not have the minimum required break between shifts, according to the Kaohsiung Labor Affairs Bureau, reported Apple Daily.

At about 5 a.m. on April 23, as two highway police officers were ticketing a truck driver at the 308 km mark on the Madou Section of Freeway 1 in Tainan City, they were suddenly crushed and killed when another truck driver plowed into the truck which had been pulled over. The police and truck driver where standing behind the patrol car and in front of the truck which they had pulled over onto the shoulder of the road, when the driver of another truck dozed off and swerved onto the shoulder before smashing into the parked truck and sandwiching the three men between their respective vehicles.

The driver of the second truck, identified as Lu I-hao (陸乙豪), 43, who appeared dazed and fatigued, admitted to police that while he was originally driving on the outside lane, he dozed off and his truck then swerved onto the shoulder before smashing into the parked vehicles.

When the bureau conducted an inspection at the trucking company's branch in Kaohsiung, they found that Lu had worked continuously from April 1 to April 22, with no days off during this period. On at least seven days, the shift lasted more than the 12-hour daily limit, the total number of overtime hours of 66 exceeded the 46 hours allowed per month, and the rest interval between shifts was less than 11 hours, all violations of the Labor Standards Act.

The bureau found that the trucking company had violated Articles 32, 34 and 36 of the Labor Standards Act, and therefore imposed the maximum fine of NT$1 million (US$33,000) for each of the three violations for a total of NT$3 million.

Lu had been working for the company for 12 years, usually worked started work at 10 a.m. and was responsible for transporting dairy products to northern Taiwan. When the the bureau went to the trucking company's office to check attendance records, the employer claimed that the driver had sufficient rest and had not been overworked, however after a review of his attendance record and vehicle scheduling charts, it became clear that several labor violations had occurred.

On Monday evening, the case was transferred to the Tainan District Prosecutor's Office and though prosecutors believe that Lu is guilty of a serious crime, he was released on NT$100,000 bail.