In an effort to crackdown illegal roadside advertisements, the Hsinchu City government is encouraging people to get involved by offering financial incentives. But how practical and effective is this measure?

Advertisement posts on light poles and electricity poles may be a way for maximum advertisement effect.

But they are unsightly.

In just Hsinchu city alone, more than 30,000 posts are taken down each month. The city government decides to penalize violators harshly.

Thanks to volunteers' assistance in collecting evidence, the government has issued tickets worth 210,000 NTD in just three months.

According to the environmental protection bureau, each violation is subject to 1,200 to 1,600 NTD.

From the beginning of this year, the government has removed nearly 100,000 such posts, with 70% of them being real estate advertisements.

For advertisements that are fixed with wires on electricity poles, they are subject to Regulations Governing Road Traffic Management and Punishment and face a different penalty standard ranging from 30,000 to 150,000 NTD.

But the violators can exempt from the penalty if they remove the posts in question.

That's why real estate advertisements like these have never been punished.

It seems the current law may be simply too lenient.