Traffic Accidents Statistics

The Council’s programmes and direction are determined based on the hard evidence of the accident trends and causations.  Traffic accident statistics and trends are therefore carefully analysed to develop and implement measures to mitigate and prevent traffic accidents.

2012 Statistics

An analysis of Hong Kong’s traffic accident statistics for 2012 reveals that 15,894 traffic accidents involved injuries with a total of 20,210 casualties. On average, 44 traffic accidents with injuries occurred every day during the year and about two persons were killed every week. Compared with the previous year, the number of accidents and the number of casualties increased by 2.27% and 2.06% respectively.

Categorising accidents by collision type reveals that in 2012 the number of vehicle collisions involving pedestrians decreased slightly from 3,489 cases in 2011 to 3,466 cases in 2012. Cases involving vehicles colliding with another vehicle also decreased slightly from 6,338 cases in 2011 to 6,329 cases in 2012.

While there has not been any significant change in the past decade in the number of traffic accidents involving injuries, there is a downward trend in fatalities.  A total of 120 people were killed in traffic accidents in 2012, this is the second lowest number recorded in Hong Kong since 1955.

The Council studies causes and consequences of traffic accidents and maintains a comprehensive traffic accident database to help formulate appropriate road safety strategies. Clearly, pedestrians consistently suffer the highest number of fatalities while private cars are the largest group involved in accidents. Of the 24,124 vehicles involved in traffic accidents in 2012, private cars accounted for 6,859, compared with 4,240 taxis, 2,637 light goods vehicles, 2,693 public buses, 2,245 motorcycles, 2,757 bicycles and 2,693 other vehicle types.

Impact of Road Conditions

Statistics show that 24% of injuries related to traffic accidents occurred at road junctions while 26% occurred at pedestrian crossings. Some 28% of traffic accidents happened at night while another 3% occurred around dawn or dusk.

Top 5 contributory factors in traffic accidents 2012  (from 4 perspectives)

I. Driver

II. Casualty (Passenger or Pedestrian)

III. Vehicle

IV. Environment