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https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1925831/traffic-deaths-rise-hong-kong-gets-40-new-red-light-cameras Law and Crime
With traffic deaths on the rise, Hong Kong gets 40 new red light cameras
Police figures show 122 people died in 117 fatal traffic accidents last year
Motorists who fail to comply with traffic signals face a HK$5,000 fine and three months’ imprisonment for a first offence. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Forty new red light cameras are in place across Hong Kong, with the city recording an 18 per cent rise in the number of fatal traffic accidents, which claimed the lives of 122 people last year.
This has brought the total number of red light cameras to 195, placing relevantroad junctions in the city under 24-hour surveillance.
“The 40 new red light cameras commenced operation by the Hong Kong Police Force from [Wednesday] to enhance road safety and strengthen the deterrent effect against red light jumping,” a Transport Department spokeswoman said.
Where the new red-light cameras have been installed
She said the government had chosen the camera locations based on the prevalence of red light jumping activities and accident records. Particular attention was paid to areas where accidents involved drivers disobeying traffic signals.
Other factors were a need for even distribution of red light cameras to deter violations city-wide, the spokeswoman added, as well as a preliminary assessment of the suitability of a given location for installing such a camera.
The 40 locations included the junction of Castle Peak Road and Lam Tei Main Street in Tuen Mun, where an elderly woman was killed when she was hit by a truck in 1995.
Another new camera was installed at the junction of Fung Chi Road and Wang Tat Road in Yuen Long, near the site of a 2007 fatal traffic accident in which a minibus allegedly ran a red light before knocking down and killing a cyclist at the junction of Fung Chi and Long Ping Road. Separately, in 1997, a taxi driver died after his vehicle ploughed into railings at Fung Chi Road.
According to the department, the new cameras were completed under the Red Light Camera System Phase Four Expansion Project.
Under the Road Traffic Regulations, motorists who fail to comply with traffic signals face a HK$5,000 fine and three months’ imprisonment for a first offence. In subsequent convictions, a HK$10,000 penalty and six-month jail term can be imposed.
Red light cameras were introduced on a trial basis in the city in 1993. A review of the effectiveness of the camera systems revealed the number of red light jumping cases at these sites was substantially reduced by between 43 and 55 per cent, the department said on its website.
The red light camera system was upgraded to use digital cameras in 2003, and there were a total of 155 sites with digital cameras in operation at the end of 2014.
Police figures showed 122 people died in 117 fatal traffic accidents last year. In 2014, 100 people were killed in 99 traffic accidents.
In the first two months of this year, 11 people died in 11 fatal traffic accidents.
Police figures showed the force issued 55,976 fixed penalty tickets against drivers involved in traffic signal offences last year and that there were only 57,436 tickets in 2014.
Last year, 1,303 drivers were arrested or issued with summons for violating traffic signal offences.
There were 1,128 drivers involved in traffic signal offences in 2014.