Timely introduction of traffic safety laws and policies that are appropriate to Hong Kong's needs, and the enforcement of these laws, remain the key to the prevention of traffic accidents and the creation of safe driving environment to all road users.

Despite our growing population and the increase in vehicle registrations, statistics for 2009 reveal that traffic accident casualty and fatality rates continue to drop in Hong Kong.  139 people died in traffic accidents during the year which has been the lowest figure recorded since 1958.

The top five contributory factors to road accidents during the year were 'driving inattentively', 'driving too close to the vehicle in front', 'careless lane changing', 'losing control of the vehicle' and 'careless cycling'.

The Road Traffic (Amendment) Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council in 2008.  It mandates a person convicted of drink driving be disqualified from driving for not less than three months upon first conviction and to attend the Driving Improvement Course.  The Ordinance also empowers the Police to conduct random breath tests.  This has resulted in a greater awareness by drivers of the consequences of drink driving and is a clear deterrent.

From February to December 2009, 39,994 drivers underwent random breath tests.  Only 269 or 0.67% of them were found to have exceeded the prescribed alcohol intake limit.  A total of 287 drink driving related traffic accidents occurred in 2009, which is a sharp decrease of 59% when compared with same period in 2008.  Strict enforcement actions as well as high profile publicity and education campaigns will be continued to promote road safety in Hong Kong.

Key Policies and Tools

The Selective Traffic Enforcement Policy (STEP) was first introduced in 1993.  It has been regularly updated to assist Police officers in setting priorities for traffic enforcement in order to enhance road safety in Hong Kong.  The policy enhances road safety by preventing traffic accidents and maintaining smooth traffic flows in Hong Kong.  In 2009, the number of prosecutions instituted against drivers and pedestrians was 468,010 and 20,866, representing a decrease of 6% and 8% respectively.  The number of prosecutions against cyclist rose by 30% to 7,008 cases when compared with 2008.

The data gathered from STEP and traffic accidents is analysed continuously to develop traffic policies and enforcement strategies.

Of the 126 fatal accidents recorded in 2009, 92 cases involved public service vehicles and goods vehicles.  The main contributory factors were 'improper or illegal turns', 'speeding' and 'driving too close to the vehicle ahead'.  Police has derived Operation Kickstarter, a territory-wide campaign comprising publicity, education and enforcement phases, to improve the situation.  The operation targets drivers of public service vehicles, such as franchised buses, public light buses and taxis with a view to enhancing the road safety awareness of these drivers and to reduce the involvement of these vehicles in traffic accidents.  Enforcement measures have focused on 'tailgating', 'speeding', 'traffic light offences', 'use of hand held mobile phones whilst driving' and 'seatbelt offences'.

Project Safe-Ride promotes safe driving behaviour among public light bus (PLB) drivers.  The scheme was fully implemented in November 2008.  It aims to improve the driving attitude of PLB drivers by providing a 24-hour police hotline for passengers to complain against drivers' misbehaviour in order to prevent traffic accidents involving PLBs.  In 2009, 337 complaints were received through the hotline and as a result, 35 drivers were summonsed or warned for contravening the Road Traffic Ordinance or poor driving manner.

In recent years, an increase in cyclists' activities has been observed both on cycling tracks and on roads.  This has also resulted in the increase in traffic accidents involving bicycles. Operation Goldensun targeting cyclists and particularly those who use bicycles to deliver goods was therefore introduced in 2008 to raise awareness through education, publicity and enforcement.

While Police regions deal with traffic and road safety issues that are prevalent to their geographic areas, there has been a general concern on seatbelt offences and illegal road racing.  Territory-wide operations codenamed 'Outranger' and 'Fossington' are conducted regularly to prevent and detect the offences respectively.  In addition, the number of speed cameras and digital red light cameras installed across the territory has been increased and as a result the number of traffic accidents caused by 'Speeding' and 'Disobeying Traffic Lights' in 2009 has decreased from 169 to 120 (-29%) and 274 to 213 (-22%) respectively when compared with 2008.

Pedestrians remain the most vulnerable group which accounts for 58% of all traffic accident fatalities in 2009.  Police have continued to enforce laws and take stringent enforcement actions against jaywalking and blatant offenders.  In the past, verbal warnings were usually issued to offenders aged 60 and above for pedestrian offences.  However, strict enforcement measures have been adopted since 2009 and fatality for this group dropped by 30% from 60 cases in 2008 to 42 in 2009.  With the high profile publicity and education campaigns, we are confident of developing a culture of good pedestrian practice.