The ongoing 'speed kills' advertising campaign might make an important contribution to reducing traffic carnage, but it tacitly accepts that the existing speed limits are appropriate.
I think thoughtfully applied lower speed limits will cut casualties and improve quality of life. There is particular benefit in reducing limits on roads where vehicles share space with other road users. The figures from the UK are quite clear: pedestrians or cyclists run down by a vehicle at 50km/h are more likely to be killed than maimed; at 30km/h there is a 95 per cent chance of survival.
We have a poor record for pedestrian accidents in Hong Kong and it is a rare person who would cycle in our urban area. A disproportionate number of accident victims are children.
I wonder if the Government would reconsider whether existing speed limits are properly related to the hazards that motorists encounter every day.
Motorists should be disabused of the belief they have a right-of-way at green traffic lights. I suspect a 30km/h limit on the approach to lights would have a dramatic effect on those horrible pedestrian/vehicle accidents - and the green light should not be steady, it should flash.
ROGER HOUGHTON Sheung Wan