 Traffic Accients Statistics
THE FACTS
The policies and programmes designed by the Road Safety Council are built around the hard evidence of accident trends and their causes and effects. Traffic statistics are analysed, traffic accident trends are identified and measures to mitigate and prevent repeated accidents are devised.
2009 Statistics
An analysis of Hong Kong's traffic statistics for 2009 reveal 14,316 traffic accidents involving injuries, resulting in 18,138 casualties. On average, 39 traffic accidents with injuries occurred every day during the year and about three people were killed every week. Compared to the previous year, the number of accidents and the number of casualties decreased by 1.78% and 2.92% respectively. A total of 139 people died in road traffic accidents in 2009, this is the lowest number of fatalities recorded in Hong Kong since 1958.
Whilst the number of traffic accidents with people incurring injuries has not shown any drastic change in the past decade, there has been a downward trend in the number of fatalities. Categorizing accidents by the type of collisions that occurred reveals that in 2009 the number of vehicle collisions involving pedestrians was reduced to 274 cases per month. Those cases involving vehicles crashing into another vehicle also decreased to 471 cases per month.
The Road Safety Council not only monitors accident statistics, but also investigates their different causes and outcomes. Pedestrians consistently have the highest number of victims and fatalities while less experienced drivers are most commonly involved in traffic accidents. Private cars are the largest group involved in accidents. Of the 21,681 vehicles involved in accidents in 2009, 6,085 were private cars, compared with 3,801 taxis, 3,438 light goods vehicles, 2,556 motorcycles, 1,910 franchised buses, 1,882 bicycles and an assortment of other vehicle class.
Impact of Road Conditions
Collated statistics show that 29% of the total injury-incurred accidents occurred at road junctions, while 27% of accidents occurred at pedestrian crossings. Some 30% of accidents happened during darkness while another 3% happened during dawn/dusk.
Top 5 contributory factors in traffic accidents 2009 (from 4 perspectives)
| I. Driver |
|
| Contributory Factor |
No. of Drivers |
| Driving inattentively |
2,279 |
| Driving too close to vehicle in front |
1,550 |
| Careless lane changing |
1,240 |
| Lost control of vehicle |
1,050 |
| Careless cycling |
950 |
| |
|
| II. Casualty (Driver, Passenger or Pedestrian) |
|
| Contributory Factor |
No. of Casualties |
| Crossing road heedless of traffic (other than road crossing area) |
576 |
| Passenger lost balance, elsewhere except on stairway of bus |
509 |
| Crossing road heedless of traffic (at crossing area) |
416 |
| Pedestrian inattentiveness |
372 |
| Lost balance/fall down when boarding/alighting vehicle |
332 |
| |
|
| III. Vehicle |
|
| Contributory Factor |
No. of Vehicles |
| Unidentified vehicle (hit-and-run) |
80 |
| Mechanical defect |
72 |
| Broken down with hazard warning lights unlit |
24 |
| Defective or illegal tyre |
21 |
| Defective vision (due to problems of car mirrors) |
14 |
| |
|
| IV. Environment |
|
| Contributory Factor |
No. of Accidents |
| Slippery road (caused by weather) |
101 |
| Slippery road (not related to weather) |
93 |
| Object or animal on road |
84 |
| Obstructed road |
68 |
| Pedestrian negligence |
59 |
For detailed statistics, please click here.
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