Questions are rightly asked whenever there is a fatal accident involving buses. They, along with trains, are the lifeblood of our transport system. If there has been a failing, it needs to be corrected promptly. The death of a girl and the injuries to dozens of other people when a coach careered out of control down Garden Road in Central on Sunday is such an instance. The cause must be found promptly and measures taken to prevent a recurrence. The investigation is under way, but the government has already decided to put a speed camera on the road, one of the steepest in the city. Its decision was prompted by lawmakers after they learned yesterday that authorities intended to install such devices on only two of 29 downhill stretches of road determined to be accident black spots. Officials agreed to put one on all of the black spots. Whether the driver of the bus involved in Sunday's accident was speeding is not yet known. As we report today, though, he had driven on to Garden Road from Magazine Gap Road, a route buses and other heavy vehicles are banned from using. There is good reason why buses coming down from The Peak are required to use Stubbs Road rather than Magazine Gap Road. The latter is long, steep and winding, a combination that can cause brakes to overheat. When this happens, there is a chance of brake failure. Whether this is what happened with the coach on Sunday has not been confirmed; given that the rules were ignored, though, it is a possibility. The prevalence of steep, narrow, roads on Hong Kong Island makes for challenging driving conditions. Drivers are given guidance through warning signs. A sign at the top of Magazine Gap Road tells drivers of heavy vehicles weighing more than 3 tonnes not to drive down it. While the road is not designated an accident black spot, it has been determined too dangerous for vehicles other than cars and vans. We do not yet know what caused the bus to smash into seven cars on Garden Road and mow down the teenage girl before crashing into the entrance to the Central Government Offices, but we do know that a warning was not heeded. The accident has come with the horror of a coach crash near Sai Kung in which 18 people died still fresh in people's memories. Investigators are still trying to identify the cause of that accident about two months ago. It also happened on a hill, though once again, not one considered an accident black spot. The inquiries into both accidents have to be thorough and the findings studied with care so that similar incidents can be prevented. There is one obvious lesson that can be learned from Sunday's accident. Warning signs, such as the one banning heavy vehicles on Magazine Gap Road, may have to be made more intimidating to impress on drivers the possibly serious consequences of ignoring them. The signs in themselves do not improve the skills of a driver; that can only be achieved through care, experience and obeying the rules. Driver education, particularly the need to use low gears instead of the brake to slow down a vehicle while driving downhill, needs to be enhanced.
