Opinion | Political inertia the most pernicious cause of road congestion in Hong Kong
Philip Bowring finds an official report on ways to ease our congested roads underwhelming in its modesty, which pinpoints the real problem - a lack of political will
"Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow" - that seems to be the motto of much of our bureaucracy. One classic example is the recently published "Report on Study of Road Traffic Congestion in Hong Kong", produced by the Transport Advisory Committee.
Most of the report's proposals are perfectly sensible. But equally they are mostly so obvious that one has to ask why most have not been implemented already, or could not be introduced immediately. Whatever the combination of lethargy, lack of inter-departmental coordination or reluctance to tread on some influential toes, the net result is damaging the quality of life of most Hong Kong people. The report recognises the damage to public health of rising levels of air pollution caused by more and slower-moving traffic, but its proposals are modest.
The executive summary notes that the decline in average road speeds is directly related to vehicle numbers growing faster than road space. This is made worse by obstruction caused by the loading and unloading of goods and passengers. Private vehicle ownership has increased by 40 per cent in a decade, but only 16 per cent of passengers are served by private cars daily, which shows that firm action to limit vehicle use will significantly inconvenience a small minority and greatly help the rest.
It notes that fixed penalty levels have remained unchanged since 1994 even though consumer prices have risen by 40 per cent. So an increase is clearly justified. But it shies away from the issue of enforcement of laws supposed to prevent obstructions, lamely noting that "with limited manpower resources and competing priorities", it may be difficult for the police to do more.
Despite being a relatively law-abiding society, Hong Kong already has a higher ratio of police to population than most other cities. Yet its traffic control efforts can only be described as derisory. How often do you see police blithely ignore tour buses parked at traffic lights, trucks blocking yellow box intersections, not to mention the limousines which routinely park in locations which are not just illegal but are actual obstructions? Try that in neighbouring cities such as Taipei and the vehicle is quickly dispatched to a remote collection point.
To tackle this problem, the police should have a blitz of clamping or towing away vehicles and requiring the owners, not their drivers, to reclaim them. Inconvenience is at least as strong a deterrent as fines. The police lack the will, not the manpower, to deal firmly with tourist and minibus operators, and limousine owners, to the great disadvantage of the majority.