Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form . Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. In April, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor pushed back on remarks by Willie Walsh, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), that Hong Kong had fallen “off the map” as an aviation hub. Lam argued that the completion of the third runway would help Hong Kong remain an international aviation hub. I hate to rain on the chief executive’s parade but she would be well advised to take a quick look around Asia, where Seoul and Tokyo (Haneda) each have four full-length runways, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur have three, and Bangkok, Taipei and Manila have two. So, Hong Kong is certainly not at the front and is at best in the middle of the pack when it comes to runway capacity. It is going to take a great deal more than a strip of concrete for Hong Kong to recover its position after the damage to its reputation as an aviation hub wreaked by the government’s policies in recent months. Bob Rogers, Sai Kung Singapore reaches milestone, Hong Kong has ‘millstone’ I refer to “City will allow foreigners to fly in from May 1” ( April 23 ), in which former chief executive Leung Chun-ying urged the government to move faster in reopening the city as most of our major trade partners have already lifted quarantine restrictions. The level of vaccination in Hong Kong and the natural immunity generated by the large number of Omicron infections since January should mean that by the Dragon Boat Festival we should be winning our battle with the virus. There is little doubt that our bankers and businessmen want to follow Singapore which has ended all testing for fully vaccinated travellers and eased domestic restrictions. Singapore, with a population of around 5.5 million, had about 1,900 cases daily on seven-day rolling average basis at the end of April; Hong Kong, with a population of 7.4 million, had about 400 cases daily on the same basis. However, despite having many more cases, the Lion City has reached a “milestone” in its plans to live with the virus, whereas Hong Kong still has the “millstone” of enforcing a “ dynamic zero ” infection strategy as a prerequisite for the city to resume quarantine-free travel with the mainland. There is no point in holding our city’s trade and tourism hostage to mainland policies when our circumstances are so very different. It appears it will be a long time before China can relax its goals of “dynamic zero” or “ societal zero ” so Hong Kong’s thrust must be to allow all people in (“whatever zero”), but ensure that no infections pass through our border with the mainland. Frank Lee, Wan Chai Reckless reopening would be as bad as negligence Your correspondent (“To revive the economy, Hong Kong mustn’t make visitors jump through hoops”, April 30 ) was anxious to bring back lost tourism upon hearing the pandemic’s retreating footsteps. However, we must keep our composure. Recklessness is just as problematic as negligence if we are not ready. The fifth wave of Covid-19 has thrown our anti-epidemic work into disarray and adversely affected the economy. To run a business, one must be like a prudent driver on the road and eschew recklessness. China has been locking down its cities, while imported cases are still reported at our airport. Let’s remember that virus mutations are not good at waving goodbye. Edmond Pang, Fanling How John Lee’s insight on road safety can be taken forward In response to a question from a reporter, Hong Kong chief executive hopeful John Lee Ka-chiu’s insight into road safety was spot on. In short, driver behaviour and knowing the rules of the road are paramount to road safety. Only when the Transport Department makes this a priority will Hong Kong ever achieve the goal of “zero accidents on the road”. This will be an uphill battle, especially when the Transport Department does not acknowledge the 1.22 million damage-only accidents that have been reported to the police since 2000. It excludes damage-only accidents from its monthly traffic and transport digests, and does not seem to consider this information in improving road safety. On the Transport Department website , a damage-only traffic incident is not an accident – a traffic accident is defined as “an incident reported to the police, involving personal injury occurring on roads in the territory, in which one or more vehicles are involved”. However, failure to include over 1 million plus damage-only traffic accidents significantly reduces our ability to address risk factors of damage and injury on our roads. Franchised bus companies will not have such data when conducting their bus route risk assessments; road engineers, district councillors, insurance companies and other interested parties are being kept in the dark as to the true extent of the risk and cost of using our roads. Is it any wonder therefore that last year had the highest number of traffic accidents causing injuries – 17,831 – since 2000, that resulted in 21,751 people being injured and killed? After the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic in 2003, the Hong Kong Jockey Club recommended to government the establishment of the Centre for Health Protection and donated HK$500 million towards it. The foresight of the Jockey Club ensured that the scientific knowledge required to fight disease was enhanced, building capacity for times such as now. With the increasing number of traffic accidents, and the highest yearly number of road casualties, would the Jockey Club consider donating HK$500 million to establish a Centre for Road Protection, helping to take Mr Lee’s insight forward to make our roads safer? Neil Dunn, Kowloon Tong