Road safety warning as city’s kids get set for start of new school term

Police have warned the public to be mindful of road safety as city schools are set to reopen on September 1, and youngsters remain some of the most frequent victims of traffic accidents.

Excluding senior citizens, Hongkongers between the ages of 10 and 14 have consistently ranked as the age group with the highest rate of pedestrian injuries and fatalities from 2009 to 2015, according to statistics from the Transport Department. Last year, the age group saw 137 casualties.

To prepare for local schools reopening, police will deploy more resources to ensure smooth traffic flow in school vicinities and “take stringent enforcement action” against irresponsible drivers for any actions that pose safety risks such as illegal parking, a police spokesman said. There is no particular district that is more prone to increased road congestion, but the volume of traffic may rise in school clusters all over the city, he added.

“Police would advise parents and school authorities to pay special attention to this group of students as they start to go to school alone. Students should be properly trained and tested to ensure their safety before being allowed to travel alone by public transport,” he said. “We would like to seek the cooperation of parents and other road users to obey traffic laws ... and pay special attention to school kids running around.”

Police will conduct a series of education and publicity activities prior to the reopening advising parents and school authorities on how to best ensure students’ safety, the spokesman added.

Local parent George Yeung said that his 12-year-old son started taking a green minibus to school from Kwun Tong to Kowloon Tong when he was in primary four. Although he was surprised to hear about the high pedestrian casualty rate for his son’s age group, he said that ultimately the authorities are doing a good job of keeping students safe.