Road Safety Council Annual Report 2010

To help to prevent traffic accidents and to foster a safer driving environment, it is of paramount importance to introduce and enforce traffic laws and policies that are commensurate with Hong Kong's traffic trends in a timely and effective manner.

With the joint effort of various stakeholders, road traffic fatalities are declining. In 2010, with a population of about 7 million, Hong Kong's traffic fatalities dropped to 117, the lowest on record since 1955. Yet we should not be complacent and must continue to collaborate with the community to promote road safety.

Drink driving and dangerous driving are two serious threats on the road. To tackle these, the Road Traffic (Amendment) Ordinance 2010 was enacted on 17 December 2010. The key elements of the new legislation are as follows:

A)	A 3-tier penalty system, with a sliding scale, was introduced to combat drink driving. The higher the proportion of alcohol in excess of the prescribed limit, the longer the driving disqualification period will be.
B)	A new offence of 'Causing Grievous Bodily Harm by Dangerous Driving' was introduced, with any driver convicted of the offence being liable to a fine of $50,000 and seven years imprisonment. The driver would also be subject to a minimum driving disqualification period of two years on a first conviction and five years on subsequent convictions. He would incur 10 driving-offence points and be ordered to attend a mandatory Driving Improvement Course.

C)	The new legislation also provided that if, when committing a dangerous driving offence, a driver's alcohol level is tier 3; or any amount of any specified illicit drug (viz. heroin, ketamine, 'ice', cannabis, cocaine or 'MDMA') is present in his blood or urine, the driver falls under the circumstances of aggravation. In such circumstances the maximum fine, maximum imprisonment and minimum disqualification period for the relevant offence(s) are all increased by 50%.

D)	The new legislation also stipulates that a driver convicted of a subsequent serious traffic offence (carrying 10 driving-offence points), whether or not that conviction is for the same or a different offence, the disqualification period shall not commence until the driver is released from any period of imprisonment.

It is encouraging that the number of traffic accidents involving drink driving has continued to drop. In 2010, a total of 214 drivers were arrested in traffic accidents involving drink driving. This represents a significant drop of 69% when compared with 701 drivers in 2008, before random breath testing was introduced. These promising figures evidence the effectiveness of strict traffic enforcement as well as high profile publicity and education campaigns in promoting road safety in Hong Kong.

Key Policies and Tools

In 1993, the Police introduced the Selective Traffic Enforcement Policy (STEP) to assist Police officers in setting priorities for traffic enforcement in order to enhance road safety in Hong Kong. Statistics gathered from STEP and traffic accidents are regularly analysed to identify areas of concern in order to develop traffic policies and enforcement strategies.

Last year, 91 cases out of 114 fatal accidents (80%) involved public service vehicles and goods vehicles. Operation Kickstarter which is a territory-wide campaign, has continued to be mounted by the Police at a regular intervals. It targets drivers of goods vehicles and public service vehicles, such as franchised buses, public light buses and taxis, to enhance their road safety awareness with a view to reducing their involvement in traffic accidents.

Project Safe-Ride, which was launched in November 2008, has continued to promote safe driving behaviour among drivers of public light buses (PLBs). It aims to prevent and reduce traffic accidents involving PLBs. Passengers can call a 24-hour police hotline to immediately report speeding or other driving misbehaviour by PLB drivers. In 2010, 204 complaints were received, resulting in 95 drivers being prosecuted or warned for contravening the Road Traffic Ordinance or driving in a poor manner.

Prosecutions against cyclists rose by 32% to 9,227 cases when compared to 2009. In recent years, cycling has become more popular with activity increasing on both cycling tracks and on roads. This has resulted in associated traffic accidents involving bicycles. Operation Goldensun which targets cyclists, especially occupational cyclists, continued to raise awareness through education, publicity and enforcement.

There is also general concern on seatbelt offences and illegal road racing. These traffic violations are tackled by territory-wide operations codenamed 'Outranger' and 'Fossington' respectively, in addition to day to day traffic enforcement by the police. The number of speeding cameras and digital red light cameras installed across the territory has also been increased. Notably, traffic accidents caused by 'Speeding' and 'Disobeying Traffic Lights' in 2010 have decreased from 120 to 62 (-48%) and 213 to 206 (-3%) respectively when compared with 2009.

Pedestrians continue to be the most vulnerable group of victims involved in traffic accidents, accounting for 59% of fatalities in 2010. Police continue to enforce laws and take stringent enforcement actions against jaywalkers and other blatant pedestrian offenders. While verbal warnings usually were given in the past to elderly pedestrian offenders, stricter enforcement since 2009 has produced a greater deterent effect. In 2010, the number of prosecutions instituted against predestrians was 23,722, an increase of 14% when compared with 2009. Unfortunately, fatalities for elderly pedestrians have still increased by 14% from 42 cases in 2009 to 48 in 2010. While stringent enforcement action will continue, the Council pledges to enhance publicity for elderly pedestrian safety.

2010 saw an upsurge in drug driving offences. In addition to supporting the Road Traffic (Amendment) Ordinance 2010 which makes the presence of specified illicit drugs in a driver circumstances of aggravation, the Council will continue to advise and support the Government in preparing the new drug driving legislation.