Hong Kong's streets are not safe. Until the government does something about it and stops thinking the sorry attempt at stepped-up public education is a real solution, there is a good chance people will continue to be injured or even killed.
The danger is not the crime rate - the city remains one of the world's safest in terms of violent crimes - but objects falling on our heads, such as windows and scaffolds.
The Housing Department's $68 million programme to insert an extra screw in windows at 53 public estates to make them safer is a good start. So is the Housing Society's free window inspection service for old buildings. But they are far from enough. We cannot rely on private flat owners and contractors to suddenly wake up to their civic responsibilities because of the current public education campaigns.
Falling aluminium window frames are nothing new. I am sure they have been falling every day across the city for years - at least since the 1980s, when this type of inexpensive aluminium hinge and screws became popular. It's just that the media, being rather slow, has only now become alert to the danger.
I bought a flat in Tin Hau around the time of the handover, and I have since witnessed at least three falling windows at my estate, all of which went unreported. It happened again last week, but this time reporters and photographers crowded into my building soon after a repairman, while trying to fix the corrosion-worn frame, accidentally pushed out the window. Luckily, no one was injured.
The Institution of Engineers has estimated that the aluminium joints holding windows to frames last for five to seven years, before metal fatigue and corrosion set in. Handymen I have talked to said the same thing.
There is only one conclusion to be drawn: Hong Kong has adopted cheap and defective windows, and we are all paying the price. It is simply criminal to continue using the current design - it is dangerous and it should be outlawed. The only solution is windows that are designed and built to a higher standard. Their price tag may be higher, but they will be cheaper when we consider the potential medical bills and lawsuits - not to mention the grief of seeing loved ones maimed or killed.