Bathroom Emergency Occurs in Highway Tunnel 蘇花改仁水隧道避車道小解 民眾恐遭罰

Two people traveling along the improved Suhua Highway's Renshui Tunnel had a bathroom emergency on Feb. 7 and decided to get out of their car and urinate along the side of the tunnel because it was congested and the traffic was motionless. 

The improved Suhua Highway's Renshui Tunnel saw a traffic jam on Feb. 7, with cars lined bumper to bumper. Two people suddenly got out of their car. They went to the side of the tunnel, and one looked around her and shielded the other with a jacket so that the latter could urinate. This type of behavior is fineable.

Hu Pi-hui, Section Director, Env. Protection Bureau, Yilan County: “Urinating in non-designated locations is prohibited under Article 27-7 of the Waste Disposal Act, and a fine of NT$1,200 to NT$6,000 can be issued.”

Under the Waste Disposal Act, a fine of NT$1,200 to NT$6,000 can be issued for urinating or defecating in non-designated locations. Drivers can also be fined NT$600 to NT$1,200 for stopping in tunnels.

Resident: “All you can do is hold it in. (Would you step out to go?) You mean by the roadside? (Yes.) Probably not.”

Resident: “It's not very convenient inside tunnels.”

Most people did not approve of people going to the bathroom inside a tunnel. If someone has a bathroom emergency while stuck in a traffic jam, the Directorate General of Highways has a solution.

Chen Kuo-cheng, Director, Traffic Control Center, 4th Maintenance Office, DGH: “You can call the Nanao Traffic Control Center's hotline, and we will send our incident response team to assist you.”

The DGH said there are phones inside tunnels for contacting traffic control centers and requesting assistance. Personnel will come and bring people to the nearest lavatory. It has provided this type of assistance many times in the past. However, there may be times when the assistance will not get there in time.

蘇花改隧道內塞車，大排長龍，卻看見兩名女子，突然下車到隧道旁，1人拿著外套幫忙遮擋，時不時向四周查看，做好把風的工作，好讓另1人小解，這樣的行為，恐吃上罰單。

環保局稽查科長胡璧輝說明：「有關隨地便溺的部分，是違反《廢棄物清理法》第27條第7款的規定，處1200到6000元的罰鍰。」

根據《廢棄物清理法》，民眾如隨地大小便，可處1200元以上6000元以下罰鍰，在隧道內隨意停車，也違反《道路交通管理處罰條例》，可處汽車駕駛人600元以上1200以下罰鍰。

民眾回應，碰到這種情況時，「只能忍了，應該是不會在路邊上廁所。」

也有民眾指出：「在隧道裡邊實在是，不是那麼方便。」

看見在隧道內小解的行為，多數民眾多不認同，但如果遇到塞車，真的尿急，其實也有更好的解決辦法。

公路總局四工處交管中心主任陳國正表示：「打我們南澳交控的這個服務電話，那我們南澳交控自然就會派這個事故處理小組去協助他。」

公路總局表示，隧道內設有交控中心電話，可讓民眾打電話請求協助，載民眾到最近的廁所解決，過去也曾提供多次協助，只是民眾長時間塞在車陣中，真的遇到內急忍不了時，再打電話求援，是否會緩不濟急？可能也是難解的問題。