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Safety Through EducationEducation and publicity are very important in raising road safety awareness among the public. The Council performs its vital role to educate the public about road safety by identifying focal points, initiating curriculum-based programmes, creating course tools and coordinating the work of other community stakeholders. This multi-agency approach is particularly effective in wide-ranging community education initiatives across all age groups. The concerted efforts of government departments, non-governmental organisations, District Councils, schools and community centres produce a range of road safety education initiatives. Lectures and seminars are given by the Police to various groups and organisations at venues including the Road Safety Bus, Road Safety Towns, schools, centres for the elderly and other community venues. The messages delivered are tailored to specific groups and audiences. For example, road safety tips for the elderly were published and disseminated via the radio phone-in quiz and cycling training courses were delivered to students to improve their skills and road safety awareness. In addition, Road Safety Bulletins prepared by the Transport Department are regularly distributed to stakeholders to enhance understanding of traffic regulations and the importance of obeying traffic rules; to disseminate road safety messages; and to enhance the road safety awareness of all road users.
Youth EducationThe Road Safety Towns are owned and managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department while lectures on road safety are delivered by Police Road Safety Teams. The towns transform road safety education into an enjoyable experience, especially for the young and the elderly, in a pleasant and comfortable environment. The towns attracted more than 44 000 visitors of all ages in 2015. They are popular destinations for kindergartens and primary schools, as well as clubs, social service groups and elderly service organisations. Open days with interactive games and performances are regularly held to promote road safety themes. Hong Kong’s Four Road Safety Towns are: Pak Fuk Road Safety Town
Sau Mau Ping Road Safety Town
Sha Tin Road Safety Park
Tuen Mun Road Safety Town
The Road Safety Bus delivers road safety messages to students at schools, residents at housing estates, children at youth centres and elderly at elderly centres. In 2015, the Bus received more than 15 000 visitors, underscoring the valuable role it plays in road safety education. In addition to raising road safety awareness and developing good practice, we continue to reach out to young people through various media platforms, including Youtube.
School EducationA holistic school curriculum comprising knowledge, skills and attitude is provided for students in accordance with their developmental needs. Positive values and attitudes that the school curriculum stresses – such as responsibility, respect and care for oneself and others, civic awareness and being law-abiding – are indispensable personal qualities for students to be responsible and considerate road users. From pre-school education, students learn how to protect themselves and cultivate basic safety habits and awareness. Elements of road safety education, such as understanding and complying with safety regulations, cycling safety, proper use of public transport and common causes of traffic accidents, are covered in various Key Learning Areas and subjects in primary and secondary education. These include General Studies at the primary level and Personal, Social and Humanities Education at the secondary level, along with Physical Education and Moral and Civic Education at both primary and secondary levels. To promote road safety education, schools can make use of learning and teaching materials, including educational television programmes and lesson plan exemplars provided by the Education Bureau and web-based resources provided by the Council. In addition, corresponding life-wide learning activities such as the Hong Kong Road Safety Patrol and Safe Cycling Training Programme are organised for students to develop a broader sense of road safety and strengthen their proper road use habits. In this way, students develop positive values and behaviours in road use and become more aware of safety during learning in a variety of related topics.
Cycling Safety EducationWith the continuing growth in popularity of cycling, for environmental and other reasons, the importance we attach to safety of people who cycle is further increased. In recent years, the Council, the Police and Transport Department have promoted cycling safety through a variety of publicity and educational activities. As cycling becomes widespread in Hong Kong, we will continue to boost our efforts in this area. Major recent undertakings have included:
Driver EducationThe ‘Driving Improvement Course’, introduced by Transport Department in 2002, continues to provide courses for drivers wishing to improve their driving behaviour. The Road Traffic Ordinance and the Road Traffic (Driving-offence Points) Ordinance require that anyone convicted of a serious traffic offence or a traffic offender who has accumulated 10 or more Driving Offence Points within two years shall attend a driving improvement course provided by a designated driving school. The course is also open to eligible drivers. Once all sessions and the course-end assessment are successfully completed, drivers receive a certificate and, when relevant, have their DOP reduced by three. In 2015, about 21 700 persons attended the course. About 90 per cent of drivers who attended the course did not incur new driving-offence points within six months after the course. A Road Safety Bulletin called ‘Drive Attentively and Avoid Distraction’ was published to remind drivers to drive attentively and avoid using electronic devices, such as mobile phones and tablet computers, while driving. The bulletin has been distributed to district offices, driving schools, and public libraries and through other publicity channels.
Pedestrian Safety EducationIn Hong Kong, elderly pedestrians remain vulnerable to road accidents. The Council continued to focus many of its seminars, campaigns, bus parades, road safety messages and publicity and educational programmes on this demographic group, emphasising proper road use and crossing technique. In particular, we continue to broadcast the television API reminding the elderly to ‘Love Yourself, Love Your Family, Be a Smart Pedestrian’. The Council also worked closely with Senior Police Call to conduct education in areas with a higher occurrence of traffic accidents involving elderly pedestrians to remind the elderly to use proper road crossing facilities. A new set of TV and radio APIs was launched on 9 January 2015, reminding pedestrians to avoid using mobile devices while walking, especially when crossing roads. ‘The Elderly Pedestrian Road Safety Quiz Competition’ co-organised by the Council and RTHK 5 was broadcast on RTHK 5 from July 2015 to January 2016. 40 teams from elderly centres across Hong Kong were invited to join the competition and Senior Police Call members were engaged as road safety ambassadors. The campaign attracted much attention from the elderly in 2015. The Council will continue to make use of the RTHK Radio 5 channel to promulgate safety messages to the elderly in 2016. A Road Safety Bulletin on ‘Zebra Crossings Safety Tips for Pedestrians and Drivers’ was produced to remind pedestrians of the safety rules when using zebra crossings. Another Road Safety Bulletin, “Road Safety for the Elderly”, was published to provide safety tips for elderly pedestrians. For further information on the Road Safety Bulletin, please visit: http://www.td.gov.hk/en/road_safety/road_safety_bulletin/index.html
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Publicity |
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Road Safety Measures |
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