Legislator says improvements may have stopped the bus breaching the parapet
A re-appraisal of safety barriers along Tuen Mun Road in the wake of yesterday's bus disaster was long overdue, legislator Albert Chan Wai-yip said yesterday.
Mr Chan, a long-time critic of the government's highways policy, has been calling for a redesign of the railings - known as parapets - since 1988, four years after completion of the second phase of the highway.
He said he believed improved safety could have prevented yesterday's tragedy. 'We first brought forward the problem in Tuen Mun District Council meetings in 1988. The government has changed some barriers along part of the highway, but that's not enough.'
Highways Department officials said yesterday that the parapet that was breached in the accident was 1.1 metres high and designed to contain vehicles up to 1.5 tonnes striking the barrier at speeds up to 113km/h and at a 20-degree angle. The bus weighed 25 tonnes. A 70km/h speed limit applies along the section of Tuen Mun Road where the accident took place.
Secretary for Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao Sau-tung said the parapet met international safety standards. 'It is very rare to see this kind of breakage. It does not matter what the height of the barrier is, if it is struck at high speed. It would still break no matter now high you made it,' Dr Liao said
Her view was supported by William Lam Hing-keung, past chairman of the civil division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, who said the parapet was not designed to cushion collision forces of such a magnitude.