Road Wars
The Hong Kong government has announced a controversial plan to allow private mainland vehicles to drive on our roads, but this could prove problematic and even deadly to local Hong Kong drivers.
Ever tried driving on the mainland? It’s not as safe as driving in Hong Kong. In fact, it’s far deadlier. Just north across the border, collisions are rife and many drivers pay no attention to traffic laws—it is certainly very risky for pedestrians to cross the road. On the mainland, 27.3 percent of all accidents on roads result in fatalities, while in Hong Kong this figure is less than one percent (0.98 percent). Yet the Hong Kong government wants to enhance integration with the mainland by opening up our borders to private drivers from China.
On May 19 at Shenzhen Bay, the Undersecretary for Transport and Housing, Yau Shing-mu, announced that the government is planning to unroll an ad-hoc quota trial scheme for cross-border private cars. The scheme will be implemented in two phases: first, private car drivers from Hong Kong will be able to apply for cross-border driving permits, followed by their Guangdong counterparts at an unspecified later stage. The government has yet to announce the full details of the trial scheme, but if successful, it may soon pave the way for full-scale cross-border car travel that could theoretically make use of the future Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
“The scheme can satisfy wider cross-boundary transportation needs and accelerate the pace of integration between Hong Kong and mainland China,” a Transport and Housing Bureau spokesperson explained to us. Of course, further integration between Hong Kong and the mainland is always desirable, but will an influx of mainland traffic jeopardize the safety of Hong Kong’s roads?
“We drive on the left side in Hong Kong but on the mainland, everyone drives on the right. This makes a huge difference to how people drive—even the manner of checking the traffic is different,” says Dr. Hung Wing-tat, Associate Professor of the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. This may not be a problem on major roads, when cars can easily follow the direction of the traffic. But problems occur when cars transition onto smaller roads. With no guiding traffic, accidents can easily result.
Currently, most of the drivers who obtain cross-border driving licenses are professional truck and van drivers. They are very familiar with the driving system and traffic regulations in both Hong Kong and China because they have to cross the border on a regular basis. There are also around 22,000 private vehicles registered in Hong Kong that can cross the border freely into Guangdong. However, such permits are issued to very few people and they are difficult to secure. Many are government cars, or vehicles belonging to people who have invested a significant sum of money into Guangdong Province.
Hung fears that the new quota system would open the floodgates to irresponsible drivers from the mainland. “Such quotas would be issued to ordinary drivers and not just professional ones. If the drivers lack sufficient experience, it will increase the number of traffic accidents in Hong Kong.”
Also, the driving cultures of Hong Kong and the mainland are very different. Anyone who has spent time on the mainland will know that crossing the road there is a matter of taking your life into your hands. Drivers in China often behave as if traffic regulations do not exist at all.