Following is a question by the Hon Tony Tse and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, in the Legislative Council today (April 27):
Question:
Some motorists have relayed that in recent years, the number of motor cycles travelling on carriageways has increased significantly, and quite a number of them are food delivery motor cycles and race motor cycles of greater horsepower. With a poor driving attitude and law-abiding awareness, some motorcyclists barge their way through carriageways, causing dangerous situations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) how the number of motor cycles registered in Hong Kong compares with that of private cars in each of the past five years and since January this year;
(2) of the number of traffic accidents involving motor cycles and their casualties (including those who were killed, seriously injured and slightly injured) in each of the past five years and since January this year;
(3) whether it has collected data and conducted analyses on (i) the causes of traffic accidents involving motor cycles, (ii) the types and horsepower of the motor cycles concerned, (iii) the occupations and ages of the drivers concerned, etc.; if not, of the reasons for that, and whether it will do so as soon as possible;
(4) of the measures in place to reduce traffic accidents involving motor cycles; whether it will enhance the publicity, education and driver training on road safety among food delivery motorcyclists, so as to raise their awareness of abiding by traffic laws; and
(5) whether it will consider tightening the requirements for motorcyclists to obtain and renew motor cycle driving licences, as well as imposing additional driving restrictions on novice motorcyclists?
Reply:
President,
The Government all along attaches great importance to road safety, and has been promoting the safety awareness of road users (including motorcyclists) and changing irresponsible driving behaviour through publicity, education and enforcement. For accidents involving motor cycles, the Transport Department (TD) and the Hong Kong Police Force (the Police) have been closely monitoring and analysing the traffic accident statistics and situation, and have been implementing appropriate measures in response to the trends.
Having consulted the TD and the Police, my reply to the Hon Tony Tse is as follows:
(1) According to the information of the TD, the number of motor cycles (including solo motor cycles, combo motor cycles and motor tricycles; this definition applies throughout this reply) and private cars registered during the period from 2017 to February 2022 are tabulated below:
| Year | Number of registered motor cycles (net growth) (Note 1) |
Motor cycles growth rate | Number of registered private cars (net growth) (Note 1) |
Private cars growth rate |
| 2017 | 76 438 | / | 600 443 | / |
| 2018 | 79 920 (+3 482) |
+4.6% | 617 683 (+17 240) |
+2.9% |
| 2019 | 84 426 (+4 506) |
+5.6% | 628 230 (+10 547) |
+1.7% |
| 2020 | 93 578 (+9 152) |
+10.8% | 651 358 (+23 128) |
+3.7% |
| 2021 | 100 557 (+6 979) |
+7.5% | 656 973 (+5 615) |
+0.9% |
| 2022 (as at February 28) |
101 657 (+1 100) |
+1.1% | 657 547 (+574) |
+0.1% |
Note 1: The net annual increase is the number of registered vehicles as at December 31 of that year minus the number of registered vehicles as at December 31 of the previous year (except for 2022).
(2) According to the information of the TD, the numbers of accidents and casualties involving motor cycles during the period from 2017 to February 2022 are shown in the following table:
| Year | Accidents involving motor cycles | |||||||
| Number of accidents | Number of casualties (Note 2) |
|||||||
| Fatal | Serious | Slight | Total | Killed (Note 3) |
Seriously injured (Note 3) |
Slightly injured (Note 3) |
Total | |
| 2017 | 11 | 404 | 1 833 | 2 248 | 11 | 425 | 2 079 | 2 515 |
| 2018 | 17 | 345 | 1 998 | 2 360 | 18 | 362 | 2 198 | 2 578 |
| 2019 | 14 | 421 | 2 189 | 2 624 | 14 | 433 | 2 445 | 2 892 |
| 2020 | 15 | 504 | 2 413 | 2 932 | 15 | 532 | 2 693 | 3 240 |
| 2021 | 15 | 432 | 2 846 | 3 293 | 16 | 453 | 3 170 | 3 639 |
| 2022* (as at February 28) |
1 | 35 | 391 | 427 | 1 | 36 | 429 | 466 |
*Provisional figures
Note 2: Figures include all people involved in the accidents.
Note 3:
Killed casualty: Sustained injury causing death within 30 days of the accident.
Serious injury: An injury for which a person is detained in hospital as a serious injury for more than 12 hours. Injuries causing death more than 30 days after the accident are also included in this category.
Slight injury: An injury of a minor character such as a sprain, bruise or cut not judged to be severe, or slight shock requiring roadside attention and detention in hospital for less than 12 hours, or not required.
The above definitions apply throughout this reply.
(3) The TD keeps analysing the traffic accident statistics related to motor cycles, and has noted the increasing trend of the accident number involving motor cycles in recent years. In the past five years, the major contributory factors of traffic accidents involving motor cycles are "lost control of vehicle", "driving inattentively" and "swerving/stopping suddenly for avoidance of collision or other reasons". The number of motorcyclists (by age) and the number of motor cycles (by cylinder capacity/rated power) involved in traffic accidents are shown respectively in the following tables:
| Driver Age | Number of motorcyclists involved in traffic accidents | ||||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
| Under 20 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 13 | 28 |
| 20-29 | 557 | 571 | 631 | 774 | 847 |
| 30-39 | 707 | 747 | 807 | 911 | 1 015 |
| 40-49 | 516 | 592 | 666 | 724 | 801 |
| 50-59 | 363 | 362 | 396 | 410 | 486 |
| 60-69 | 103 | 85 | 135 | 138 | 162 |
| 70 and over | 6 | 6 | 13 | 9 | 21 |
| Unknown age | 18 | 18 | 15 | 24 | 16 |
| Total | 2 280 | 2 386 | 2 678 | 3 003 | 3 376 |
| Cylinder capacity/rated power of motor cycle | Number of motor cycles involved in traffic accidents | ||||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
| Cylinder capacity of engine | |||||
| Under 125 cubic centimetres (c.c.) | 298 | 300 | 326 | 388 | 358 |
| 125 c.c. to 500 c.c. | 1 511 | 1 631 | 1 921 | 2 150 | 2 485 |
| Over 500 c.c. | 351 | 392 | 373 | 401 | 454 |
| Rated power of electric motor | |||||
| Under 3 kilowatts (kW) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 kW to 40 kW | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Over 40 kW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown cylinder capacity/rated power | 118 | 62 | 58 | 64 | 71 |
| Total | 2 280 | 2 386 | 2 678 | 3 003 | 3 376 |
Both the Police and the TD have not maintained the breakdown of occupation of drivers involved in traffic accidents. However, the Police has conducted a one-off thematic study in respect of traffic accidents involving motor cycles (including fatal, serious and slight injury cases) in the first six months of 2021 and collated the number of traffic accidents and casualties related to food delivery. The relevant figures are tabulated as follows:
| Numbers of traffic accidents involving motor cycles related to food delivery between January and June 2021 (percentage of the total number of accidents involving motor cycles in Hong Kong during the same period) |
||
| Number of accidents |
Number of casualties (note 4) |
|
| Fatal | 0 (0%) |
0 (0%) |
| Serious | 24 (1.5%) |
24 (1.4%) |
| Slight | 164 (10.2%) |
164 (9.2%) |
Note 4: Figures include all people involved in the accidents.
(4) On publicity and education, the TD and the Police have been collaborating with the Road Safety Council (RSC) in launching various publicity and education activities to raise the safety awareness of road users including motorcyclists. In recent years, relevant departments and the RSC have been striving to promote messages of safe motorcycling. For example, publicity video clips and messages on motorcycling safety have been disseminated through information platforms on the Internet, social media platforms and publicity publications to remind motorcyclists to follow the traffic rules at all times. The Police will continue to promote motorcycling safety amongst the relevant stakeholders, including food delivery companies and platforms.
On law enforcement, the Police has always paid close attention to the safety of motorcycling and the related accidents. The Police will continue to take rigorous enforcement action against unsafe and irresponsible driving behaviour under the Selected Traffic Enforcement Priorities. The Police will also review their strategies on enforcement from time to time, with a view to raising motorcyclists' awareness of driving safety, and reducing traffic accidents.
(5) Under the existing legislation, all motor cycle test candidates must first complete a mandatory competence test course at the driving schools designated by the TD before they could attend the motor cycle Part B Mandatory Competence Test and Part C Road Test.
The TD has always attached great importance to road safety and is committed to upholding the quality of driving training and driving test. In line with the driving test systems in many other parts of the world, the driving test in Hong Kong is composed of written test and road test that aim at fully assessing, both at theoretical and practical levels, the suitability of a candidate to drive and to be issued with a driving licence. The TD has always ensured that only candidates who are up to the required standard would pass the driving test and be issued with a driving licence. The TD will continue to closely monitor the quality of driving training and driving test (including that for motor cycle).
Moreover, all persons who have passed the motor cycle driving test are required to undergo a 12-month probationary driving period before being issued with a full driving licence. During the probationary driving period, these drivers are subject to additional driving restrictions on speed and use of traffic lanes etc. on top of those applicable to ordinary drivers.
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