Deadly Gravel Trucks Create Fear On Taiwan's Roads, Village Streets

TAIPEI - Overloaded and speeding, their brakes worn to shreds, gravel trucks known as "big cows" have become the scourge of Taiwan.

Once tolerated as the inevitable byproduct of a breakneck construction boom, gravel trucks have killed so many people they have triggered a public backlash.

Bystanders have beaten up offending truckers, and in some towns residents have barricaded roads to keep trucks out of their neighborhoods. The government has promised a crackdown, but critics say bribes and corruption make effective action impossible.

Trucks, mostly gravel carriers, killed at least 320 people in 1993, the Transport Ministry says.

In one case, a trucker ran a red light and knocked down a pregnant woman, then backed up and killed her as she struggled to her feet.

In another case, a gravel truck hit a school bus, injuring 30 children. Police say the driver was unlicensed, had been ticketed six times for speeding and overloading, and was hauling 35 tons instead of the permitted 21.

Trucks licensed to carry 35 tons have been illegally modified to carry as much as three times that load.

Police and government officials say they lack the manpower for a thorough crackdown. Truck drivers often drive through busy streets to dodge freeway inspections.

But critics say the gravel industry, police and politicians are riding a merry-go-round of bribes that blocks effective action. They say that in the savagely competitive gravel business, drivers are being forced to break the law or lose their jobs.

Police say they have no evidence to charge anyone with bribery. But William Hsu, secretary-general of the Truck Cargo Transportation Association, says the bribes are "an open secret."

The illegal trucks, modified by heightening their sideboards, are hard to control, and their brakes quickly wear out. Drivers play a sort of Russian roulette, charging through dangerous intersections while saving their brakes for the next, possibly greater, hazard ahead. The ministry has given the gravel industry 18 months to correct the illegal modifications.

"Why does it take 18 months to undo what the truck drivers themselves insist they can undo in three months?" the China Post asked recently.