The Transport Department is being urged to review its definition of what constitutes a traffic black spot after Monday's fatal crash between a taxi and a minibus in which the latter somersaulted into an underpass.
The junction between Sha Tin Wai Road and Tai Chung Kiu Road is not on the list of 52 black spots on the department's website, although a senior police officer said it was considered one by the force.
The list was last updated in December last year but the site would not merit inclusion because it does not fit with the definition. Only places which have had six accidents involving pedestrians in a year, nine accidents with injuries or deaths in a year, or two fatal accidents within five years fit the definition.
Superintendent Wong Kim-wing of the New Territories South police traffic unit said on Monday that any site with two accidents in a month would be submitted to a committee within the force to determine if it should be labelled a black spot. He said the Sha Tin crash site was one.
Miriam Lau Kin-yee, lawmaker for the transport sector, said transport officials should be more flexible.
'The department considers only the number of deaths and injuries, but it ignores the actual traffic situation - whether a location has many vehicles jumping red lights or speeding incidents.'
New Territories district councillor Christine Fong Kwok-san said the department's definition of a traffic black spot should match that of the police's.