I refer to the letter headlined, 'Deadly cargo', by Oi Yee-hung, which appeared in the Sunday Morning Post, on January 25, drawing attention to the serious problem of insecurely loaded vehicles and asking whether the law is either not strict enough or is not being enforced strictly enough.
The offence of insecurely loading a vehicle under Regulation 57 of the Road Traffic (Traffic Control) Regulations carries a fixed penalty of $450 and the number of fixed penalty tickets issued for this offence increased from 7,604 in 1996 to 9,464 in 1997.
Mr/Ms Oi's concerns are shared by both the police force and the Transport Department. The latter recently issued a summary of the Code of Practice for the loading of vehicles which has been widely distributed. Efforts to secure the co-operation of drivers through education and publicity will continue, as will increased enforcement.
At the same time the requirement for the existing legislation to be amended is also being considered.
H. M. BLUD Chief Superintendent Police Public Relations Branch for Commissioner of Police
