Road Safety Measures

Experts have estimated that improvements in the safety of roads can reduce fatality rates by as much as 43%.  The Council firmly believes that road accidents and their consequences can be greatly reduced by developing safer roads.  Road improvement measures are designed to prevent and reduce the consequences of serious crashes by specially treating locations where frequent or major accidents occur and by improving intersections.

Corrective Work

To enhance road safety for both motorists and pedestrians, the Transport Department investigated about 100 traffic accident blacksites with a view to formulating suitable traffic engineering and management improvement proposals last year.  The number of traffic accident blacksites has been reduced from 140 in 1994 to 79 by the end of 2010.

Engineering Measures

The Highways Department and Transport Department have been working closely with the Police and Fire Services Department to enhance road safety.  At selected emergency openings at central dividers, conventional tubular crash gates have been replaced with removable concrete barriers (RCBs), or movable steel barriers (MSBs), to prevent errant vehicles from straying onto the opposite carriageway, and becoming an even greater danger, during traffic accidents.

Removable Concrete Barriers (RCBs)		Movable Steel Barriers (MSBs)

Consisting of a series of precast concrete units, RCBs are for use at contingency openings for traffic diversions in major incidents.  To facilitate diversion of traffic, they can be removed within an hour by lifting plant.

MSBs are for use at emergency openings reserved for the swift passage of emergency vehicles and traffic diversions.  They consist of robust movable and transition units which can be quickly opened by emergency crews.

The containment capabilities of RCBs and MSBs are comparable to conventional barriers.  Up to 2010, the Highways Department has installed 33 sets of RCBs and 21 sets of eight-metre MSBs across Hong Kong to replace tubular crash gates, and has closed 19 emergency openings with conventional concrete barriers.

There are, however, some emergency openings serving the dual purposes of traffic diversion and swift passage of emergency vehicles, for which openings created by an eight-metre MSB are insufficiently wide for traffic diversion purposes, whereas RCBs require relatively longer removal time.  In light of these concerns, the Highways Department commissioned a study on the use of 16-metre MSBs and, in 2009, installed for trial a 16-metre MSB at the North Lantau Highway.  After the successful trial, nine 16-metre MSBs were installed along the North Lantau Highway in 2010.

Vehicle Examination

All vehicles to be registered in Hong Kong are required to undergo type approval and a pre-registration examination to ensure they meet requirements stipulated in the Road Traffic Ordinance.  All commercial vehicles, including goods vehicles, buses, light buses, taxis and trailers, are required to pass a pre-registration examination and roadworthiness examination each year.  All private cars six years or older are required to pass an annual examination.  It is the responsibility of vehicle owners to properly maintain their vehicles to ensure their roadworthiness.

In 2010, the Transport Department continued to review and update local vehicle regulations, such as the regulations for lighting, brakes and doors, and introduced requirements for speed limiters on local public light buses.

Educaion

Law and Enforcement