Letters | Lenient penalties for drivers in serious accidents are a danger to all

Between 2010 and 2020, the number of fatal and serious traffic accidents in Hong Kong broadly remained flat. Every year, there are 113 fatal traffic accidents on average, and 2,181 serious accidents, which comes to nearly six cases every day.

To improve road safety, the government should first address the lenient penalties for dangerous driving. On first conviction, offenders guilty of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm or death are liable, respectively, for imprisonment of up to seven or 10 years, and disqualification from driving for not less than two or five years. Both are liable for the maximum fine of HK$50,000 (US$6,426).

In cases of dangerous driving causing death, life disqualification is considered only for repeat offenders or in particularly horrific cases – in other words, when it is too late. These weak penalties often led to absurd outcomes.

In 2018, a BMW ran onto a pavement and hit a woman and her two-year-old daughter. They survived but the mother lost one foot and had to partially amputate the other. The driver, pleading absent-mindedness, was jailed for 15 months and disqualified from driving for merely two years.

In 2019, a drunk driver knocked down and killed a road maintenance worker and was jailed for just two years and banned from driving for five years.