Drunk driving

Although Hong Kong has now had drink-driving laws for nearly three years, far too many people are still being killed by a minority of irresponsible drivers.

The statistics are frightening. One in 10 night-time accidents is due to alcohol and a quarter of the drivers killed in crashes last year had been drinking beforehand. Nor were they the only ones to die. Since 1995, 38 innocent victims have been killed in accidents caused by drunk-drivers.

Hong Kong is a small place with excellent public transportation. So there can be absolutely no excuse for anyone who has been drinking to get behind the wheel, when it is so easy to take a bus or a taxi home instead. But clearly that message has not yet got through to a minority.

Although drink-related accidents have significantly decreased since the 1995 legislation, they are still higher than in most Asian countries. With hindsight, it would have been better if that law had imposed the tough blood alcohol limit originally intended. But, at the last moment, this was unwisely watered down to the milder standard that applies in Britain and many parts of the United States.

Now this mistake is to be belatedly rectified. A new law will lower the limit so that anyone who drinks just a pint of beer or 1.5 glasses of wine risks prosecution, the same level that applies in much of the rest of Asia as well as several European countries.

While this long overdue change marks a step in the right direction, it is far from enough by itself.