Summary of Discussion at Road Safety Council 180Th Meeting

180th Meeting of the Road Safety Council held on 18th November 2020

Summary of Discussion

1. Traffic Accident Analysis

1.1 Comparing the figures of the first three quarters of 2020 with the same period of 2019: (a) Fatal accidents increased from 75 to 78 cases (+4%); (b) Serious accidents decreased from 1438 to 1196 cases (-16.8%); (c) Slight accidents decreased from 10419 to 9546 cases (-8.4%).

1.2 The top five driver contributory factors of accidents were: (a) Driving inattentively; (b) Lost control of vehicle; (c) Driving too close to the vehicle in front; (d) Careless lane changing; and (e) Turning right/left negligently.

1.3 The top three casualty contributory factors of accidents were: (a) Passenger lost balance in vehicles and when boarding/ alighting vehicle (b) Pedestrian inattentiveness; and (c) Crossing road heedless of traffic.

2. Action Plans Update

2.1 Enhancing Education and Publicity

(a) Elderly Pedestrian Safety Campaigns

RTHK Radio 5 Promotion for elderly road safety (香港電台第五台長者道路安全)

The RTHK publicity campaign for elderly road safety comprised three parts: short videos, radio drama and road safety quiz. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the format of the video would be changed to street interview and be broadcasted from November 2020 to March 2021. For radio drama, seven episodes had been broadcasting since 2020-11-05. For elderly road safety quiz, 35 episodes would be broadcasted from December 2020 to February 2021.

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(b) RSC Annual Report 2019

The English and Chinese versions of RSC Annual Report 2019, in PDF format, were completed in July and August respectively and uploaded to Road Safety Council website for public to download.

The production of RSC’s latest TV and Radio API was completed and had started broadcasting on TV and radio since 2020-10-26. The API featured Hong Kong professional racing driver Darryl O'Young (歐陽若曦) to promote the theme of "Be a responsible driver".

(d) Social Media Short Video

The production of four RSC social media short videos were completed and were released on RSC Facebook on 2020-11-06. The video used drama and humour to educate the public about different aspects of road safety.

(e) Road Safety VR Game

The contract of RSC VR Game was awarded to Eteam Entertainments Limited and the production was underway. With the help of VR initiatives, road users would be able to get up close with dangerous traffic situations without putting themselves at risk. The project was expected to be completed by January 2021 and deployed to four Road Safety Towns and Road Safety Bus.

(f) RSC Website Maintenance Services and Responsive Website

The contract of RSC website maintenance and conversion to responsive website was awarded to Arcotect Limited. The new responsive web design would comply with the requirements of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) to facilitate both mobile and desktop device users. The new website was expected to be launched in January 2021.

(g) Road Safety Council 47th Anniversary - Online Publicity Campaign

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the format of Road Safety Council 47th Anniversary would be changed to an online publicity campaign with the theme of “Be a responsible - 3 -

Road User”. The Campaign would last for six weeks between mid-December 2020 and late January 2021. The contract was awarded to Noah (Asia) Limited.

(h) Performance of RSC Social Media Platform – Mr Safegg

Since the last RSC meeting on 2020-08-26, a total of 72 feeds were published on RSC’s social media platform, which covered a range of road safety topics including bicycle safety and motorcycle safety, with a very encouraging performance of over 800,000 unique viewers.

2.2 Improved Engineering and Legislation

(a) Extension of Seat Belt Requirements to Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and Progress Update on the Review of Seat Belt Requirements

Having considered the practice in overseas jurisdictions and noted an increasing trend of driver and passenger causalities on SPVs in Hong Kong, TD proposed to further extend the seat belt requirements to the driver and the passenger seats on new SPVs. TD had been consulting relevant stakeholders on the vehicle type approval requirements on installation of seat belts as recommended in the RSRC Paper No. 01-20. Members supported the proposal and suggested retrofitting existing goods vehicles with seat belts via incentive scheme. TD explained that, for some models of goods vehicles in the market, there would be technical difficulties in retrofitting vehicles with seat belts. TD would continue to work in collaboration with the RSCC and the transport trades to encourage passengers to wear seat belts through education and publicity.

(b) Average Speed Camera System (ASCS)

With reference to overseas practice and experience in effectively combating illegal road racing and nurturing drivers’ behaviour to comply with speed limit, TD had been conducting a 6-month site trial of ASCS at Tsuen Wan Road westbound and West Kowloon Corridor westbound, which measured average speed of vehicles along the road. The site trial commenced on 3 October 2020 and the accuracy, reliability and stability of ASCS would be assessed, but data collected during the trial would not be used for enforcement. Members supported the site trial and suggested that suitable tolerance should be allowed if ASCS was to be used for enforcement in future. Members also suggested to evaluate performance of ASCS under different operational conditions. TD would take account of Members’ views in the review.

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2.3 Innovation and Technology

(a) Franchised Bus / Mini-bus – seat belt fastening detection system

TD launched a trial of “Seat occupancy and seat belt fastening detection system” in September 2020. A total of eight green mini-bus routes were involved. The trial would be completed by Q1 2021. If the result was positive, TD would consider suitable application of the system to other type of vehicles.

(b) Driving inattentively – driving monitoring device

Two technologies were discussed to address the issue of driving inattentively. A driving monitoring device was able to tackle the issue by capturing face image of a driver to determine if the driver was awake, and issue warning sound as and when necessary. Another measure was the FIA Smart Driving Challenge (SDC) which was introduced to Hong Kong by HKAA to evaluate driving patterns in real-time. The working group would conduct a study on similar mobile applications to monitor driving behaviours. SDC would also be referred to Taxi Safety Sub-Working Group for further discussion.

Laserlight Core was a projection device for cyclist which combined a white light and a laser image to beam out of blind spots, junctions and situations where a cyclist would otherwise be unseen. The working group found it worth to be promoted and suggested to refer it to RSCC/RSPSWG for further discussion.

Airbag helmet for cyclist was a protective helmet which inflated an airbag around the head and neck like a protective hood in the event of an accident. However, it was not recommended at this stage due to its high price.

(d) Traffic accident related to motorcycle – high-tech helmet

The working group had considered high-tech motorcycle helmet with head-up display to enhance motorcyclist safety. However, it would not be considered at this stage given its high cost. Instead, the working group proposed to use driving monitoring devices or fleet management systems to monitor motorcyclists’ driving behaviour.

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2.4 Focused Action on Target Groups (Enforcement)

(a) In the last quarter, the working group had analysed accidents related to elderly pedestrians, red public light buses, franchised buses, cyclists on carriageways and motorcyclists. A total of 27 selected locations of concern were identified, where Regional Traffic Formations would concentrate manpower deployment in specific time range and location for each selected focus. For the coming quarter, the RSC Secretariat and TD would continue their analysis on traffic accidents related to the latest primary focuses of RSC, namely driving inattentively, cyclist on the carriageway, motorcycle and taxi. A total of 33 selected locations of concern were identified for Regional Traffic Formations to conduct focused enforcement actions.

(b) Regarding traffic enforcement in the first three quarters of 2020, there was a rise of 44% in the number of total traffic enforcement actions when comparing with that of the first three quarters of 2019, and a rise of 231% in enforcement against Selected Traffic Enforcement Priorities (STEP) offences related to cycling.

2.5 Encouragement and Evaluation (Strategic Engagement)

(a) Connecting Elderly Pedestrians through SWD Elderly Centre Services

RSSEWG, SWD and HKPF units had worked in partnership to visit and disseminate road safety promotional materials to District Elderly Community Centres and Neighbourhood Elderly Centres. 12 centres in Yau Tsim Mong District were visited to deliver small gifts and posters for the sake of disseminating road safety messages. Another 16 elderly centres in Sham Shui Po District had been identified and will be visited in the upcoming months by officers of Road Safety Office Kowloon West Police Region. In the future, RSSEWG would continue identifying centres in according with the trend of the latest traffic accident statistics to enhance road safety awareness among elderlies.

(b) Connecting Elderly Pedestrians through “WhatsApp Chat Group”

RSSEWG and SWD had worked in partnership to disseminate road safety videos and information through the connection with District Elderly Community Centres within the territory. WhatsApp messages containing “Facebook” and “YouTube” hyperlinks and four videos of 「交通的事.行人四寶」 and a “Police Magazine” footage of 「長者道路安全及司機駕駛盲點」 were sent among elderly community through their internal WhatsApp Chat Group with elderly centres. These mentioned road safety - 6 -

promotional videos were also delivered to SWD for their broadcasting on the televisions in 211 Elderly Centres, via their Facebook pages and circulation through their respective WhatsApp Chat Group among elderly community covering approximately 220,000 elderly citizens.

Videos to promote elderly pedestrian safety had been broadcasting on 47 ETA panels (26 ETA panels more than the previous update) at the bus shelters in HK Island and Sai Kung area along the bus routes servicing by New World First Bus and Citybus.

(d) Connecting bike rental companies, other departments through RSSEWG members

With the recent commissioning of the 60 km-long cycle track connecting Tuen Mun and Ma On Shan, TBHQ and TD had recently liaised with CEDD, the project proponent for the construction of the subject cycle track, to explore the possibility of providing publicity banners and posters to promote cycling safety of which to be affixing at the three Cycling Entry / Exit Hub along the new cycle track situated at 1. Sheung Shui, 2. Tuen Mun and 3. University Station. The working group had initially contacted with LCSD to use their facilities for the dissemination of road safety messages at those three Cycling Entry / Exit Hub with positive reply. The working group would further engage the relevant stakeholders, such as bike rental shops, to promote cycling safety once the proposed arrangements were ready. Easy-stand banners promoting cycling safety had also been delivered to approximately 50 bike rental companies within the territory. In the future, activities targeting elderly bicycle commuters would be held at Elderly Centres for the delivery of cycling safety messages to the elderly community through the engagement with SWD.

3. Areas of Focus for the Coming Quarter

(a) Contributory factor /Driving behaviour:

 Driving Inattentively

(b) Focused road user:

 Cyclist

 Motorcycle

 Taxi