Mid-Levels residents and district councillors have questioned a plan to place a speed-enforcement camera on a steep, narrow road that they say is troubled more by traffic jams than speeding.
Old Peak Road is so congested, especially at peak times, that it is impossible to speed and difficult to get out of driveways, they say.
The road, one of Hong Kong's steepest with a gradient of one in five, is among 26 locations selected for speed cameras in an effort to improve safety on what the government termed 'long downhill roads', after two accidents that killed 20 people on such roads.
Old Peak Road stretches just 560 metres from Peak Tower to the Canossa Hospital.
The Legislative Council Finance Committee approved HK$15 million for the cameras last year. Each camera costs HK$245,000, installation costs HK$247,000 and average annual maintenance is HK$80,000.
'Is this a serious proposal, to install a speed enforcement camera, or is it a joke?' said Old Peak Road resident Nora Hui Kin-on, describing it as a waste of taxpayers' money.