A new year ... a new motoring start? Wesley Wan, vice-president of the Hong Kong Automobile Association has high hopes.
In our roadside poll of prominent motorists' New Year driving resolutions, Wan says he wants to make enough money to buy a car that he really wants to drive. 'A Lamborghini Gallardo would be a good start,' he says. 'I'd also like to see our project to open a motor-racing circuit in Hong Kong take off.'
The HKAA is also about to launch a campaign to promote respect for traffic lights. 'If we all stop racing to beat the red light, the roads will become much safer,' Wan says.
Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Hong Kong Jockey Club's executive director of racing, hopes to keep his clean driving licence in his BMW 530. 'I will try not to scream at taxi and minibus drivers who stop suddenly, or squeeze you out of a lane,' he says. 'There are minimal chances of my keeping these resolutions though.'
Engelbrecht-Bresges says he wishes other motorists wouldn't accelerate when they see you want to switch lanes to close up an existing gap. 'For taxi drivers, I would hope that they don't suddenly brake when they see a potential customer,' he says.
David Eldon, the chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, resolves to only take the car when necessary, and walk instead. 'But the pollution might get me faster that way,' he says. Eldon would like Hong Kong drivers to emulate the Australian 'zipper' method of merging traffic, which could well be one of the ways of getting Gloucester Road moving again.