With some 15,000 traffic accidents recorded each year in Hong Kong, the importance of road safety cannot be overstated. That it has taken another tragedy to ring the alarm bell is regrettable. Five precious lives, including that of a three-month-old baby girl and her grandmother, were lost in a horrific collision last Friday, when a green minibus was hit by a truck at an intersection in Yuen Long. One of the five other passengers in hospital – the baby’s aunt who is also a member of the Hong Kong’s women’s soccer team – is still in critical condition.

The 70-year-old truck driver appeared in court on Monday charged with one count of dangerous driving causing death.

The circumstances leading to the fatal accident will become clearer when the case goes before the court again in February. But one issue already stands out: some passengers were hurled out of the vehicle and found dead outside the wreckage, suggesting that they might not have followed the law to fasten seat belts.

It has been asked whether the use of seat belts could have made a difference in such a serious crash. When the law was introduced in 2004 , officials estimated that casualties involving minibus accidents could be reduced by up to 20 per cent. In Friday’s collision, some front-seat passengers with seat belts on reportedly escaped with less severe injuries.