The government supports the fitting of safety belts in the front-row seats on the upper level of most double-decker buses, but wearing them will not be mandatory.
In another proposal in a continuing push to improve bus safety, drivers will be given at least 12 minutes of rest time in the first four hours of their shift, in addition to their normal 50-minute meal break.
The moves, outlined in papers prepared for legislators by the Transport and Housing Bureau, follow a series of traffic accidents since last year involving double-deckers in which passengers were killed or severely injured after being thrown through the windscreens.
The recommendation for seat belts in the first four rows on the upper deck has received support from the three major bus companies, which have promised to install them on all buses made after 1997.
The bureau said, however, that it would be 'technically difficult' to retrofit seat belts on the single exposed seat facing the aisle at the rear of the upper deck. Passengers have complained that people sitting in this seat are thrown forward if a bus makes a sudden stop.
The bureau said buses produced before 1997 would require a redesign costing HK$124 million if seat belts were to be fitted.
Instead, the bureau suggested adding a horizontal guard rail across the upper deck windscreen.