Advertisement
Advertisement
Letters | Hong Kong traffic crashes reveal gaps in police enforcement
- Traffic police prefer to locate their speed entrapment units with radar guns on open highways
- Few, if any, speed enforcement operations are conducted on our downtown streets.
Many of Hong Kong’s serious traffic accidents which result in fatalities or horrific injuries occur on roads which have 50km/h (30mph) speed limits. Vehicles can routinely be seen racing between traffic lights and road junctions at speeds closer to 70km/h. This high toll of fatalities and serious injuries is because the speed of the vehicles in these cases more often than not exceeds the 50km/h limit at the moment of collision.
The traffic police in Hong Kong have ignored speed enforcement in built-up areas for decades, preferring to locate their speed entrapment units with radar guns on open highways while often hiding behind trees or lamp posts. Few, if any, speed enforcement operations are conducted on our downtown streets “Answers needed after latest deadly Hong Kong crash”, June 15).
This serious omission is glaring and contrasts with cities in the Western world, where speed and traffic lane enforcement cameras are often used to catch offending drivers. The police traffic division needs a complete management shake-up.
If it does not have the officers with the knowledge, ability and resolve to implement traffic control and enforcement measures using camera surveillance, it should send staff to be trained in the mainland.
P. A. Crush, Discovery Bay
Post