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Road safety upped despite fatality fall
 Let's ride!: Cycling Association instructor Ernest Law gives safety tips to a group of youngsters at Tai Wai |
A drop in fatal and serious traffic accidents is not about to ease the campaign for safer roads.
Chief Superintendent (Traffic) Ian Stenton told the media on January 26, Police would continue to increase enforcement action and safety drives despite the accident fall in the second half of last year.
Mr Stenton said the number of traffic accident fatalities dropped 1.8 per cent from 112 in the latter half of 1998, to 110 in the same period of 1999.
Woman Chief Inspector Josephine Lau Wai-mun of Traffic Headquarters added that for the whole of 1999, 211 people were killed in traffic accidents, of which 108 were pedestrians.
About 60 per cent were aged 60 or more, showing the elderly were particularly vulnerable.
 In the bag: Handing out vibrant shopping bags |
Ms Lau said a safety drive was underway, with 12,500 reflective shopping bags, sponsored by an insurance company, carrying road safety messages being distributed to senior citizens.
The elderly often dress in dark colours and the vibrant bags allow motorists to better see them.
Ms Lau said to tackle the rise in bicycle-related accidents in the New Territories, a series of cycling proficiency courses for primary and secondary school students began in January to promote cycling safety.
Instructor Ernest Law Wing-sum, who is a coach with the Hong Kong Cycling Association, said the one-day course was a compressed version of a 50-hour one.
He stressed to the young cyclists the importance of observing road safety regulations. "The participants were also advised to wear suitable clothes and shoes as well as other protection gear when cycling.
"In addition, they must check whether their bicycles are functioning properly before going on the roads," Mr Law said.