Road Safety Measures

The Council strongly holds that the number of road accidents and severity of casualties can be greatly reduced through the achievement of the road safety objectives of safer roads, safer road users and safer vehicles. Road improvement measures are implemented to provide a safer road environment to help minimise traffic accidents and road casualties. In the past year, various local traffic improvement measures have been implemented across all districts to enhance road safety.

Traffic Accident Investigation

In addition to local traffic improvement measures, the Transport Department has conducted route studies and investigations at 100 accident black spots to identify potential safety problems on roads and respond with a holistic approach to implement improvement measures that enhance road safety along the routes and at the black spots concerned.

The Use of Technology

The Transport Department is applying technology to enhance road safety.

Among the approximately 1 900 road junctions at which traffic lights are installed to safely regulate and control vehicular and pedestrian traffic, 195 have been installed with red light cameras to deter drivers from jumping red lights. In addition, 125 speed enforcement camera housings were installed and came into operation to deter speeding.

Engineering Measures

Truck Mounted Attenuator

The Truck Mounted Attenuator (TMA), mounted at the rear of a roadworks construction vehicle, is designed to absorb the energy of a following vehicle colliding onto the stationary or slow moving construction vehicle so as to reduce the severity of damage and injury. To achieve this special purpose, TMA has to fulfil certain specific testing requirements. Moreover, the mounting vehicle must meet the requirements recommended by the manufacturer of the TMA and have a minimum weight of 11 tonnes.

Back in early 2000s, TMA was introduced by Highways Department for local applications in escorting mobile operations on expressways, such as setting up and removing lane closures, road lighting maintenance, tree pruning and weeding, and have been proven to perform effectively in many previous traffic accidents. To further enhance road traffic safety and improve protection for road workers, by November 2016, Highways Department extended the use of TMAs in their roadworks operations from expressways to other roads with a speed limit of 70 km per hour or above. Apart from mobile operations, TMA is also specified for placement within a lane closure an appropriate distance ahead of physical working areas for additional protection. In tandem with these passive protective measures, promotion and education of attentive driving as well as traffic enforcement regarding speeding and dangerous driving are also crucial in making our road network safer.

Vehicle Examination

All vehicles registered in Hong Kong are required to undergo type approval and / or 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 old or older are required to pass an annual examination. Vehicle owners have the responsibility to properly maintain their vehicles to ensure their roadworthiness.

In October 2014, it became mandatory for all newly registered goods vehicles in Hong Kong to have a reversing video device fitted to provide a clear view to the rear, with the aim of further enhancing the safety of reversing goods vehicles. Moreover, electronic data recording devices (EDRD) became mandatory on all newly registered public light buses (PLB) in Hong Kong, from December 2014.