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PUBLIC ORDER
motor vehicles registered both in the commercial and private spheres. During 1969 the number of registered vehicles increased by 14.3 per cent compared with the figure at December 31, 1968 to a total of 127,132.
In spite of the larger number of vehicles using the limited road space available it was pleasing to record that there was not a parallel increase in the number of traffic accidents. In fact, while the improvement was only marginal, the numbers of both accidents and casualties decreased during the year. Proportionately, the greatest reduction was in the number of fatal casualties which fell from 333 in 1968 to 314, a reduction of 5.6 per cent. A total of 9,861 persons were injured, compared with 9,620 in 1968, an increase of 2.5 per cent.
Much emphasis was placed on road safety during the year and the first ever Far East International Road Safety Conference was held in January in Hong Kong. The conference was sponsored by the Road Safety Association and was attended by delegates from many countries in the region. An indication of its success was the fact that the delegates unanimously decided that it should become an annual event.
In the field of road safety propaganda, the police force, with the assistance of the Government Information Services Department and the Government Printer, prepared and distributed over 21,000 posters and 825,000 handbills and the ready co-operation of the bus companies, ferry companies, oil companies and many govern- ment departments in exhibiting the posters on their premises, vehicles and vessels was greatly appreciated.
The Road Safety Section of the police was expanded on April 1 and re-deployed so that there was a section in each of the three land districts. Schools throughout the Colony were visited by officers of this section to give instruction to children in road safety matters. The School Safety Patrol expanded further and, at the end of the year, comprised 2,500 members from 53 schools.
On September 1, 1969 a new category of public transport, public light buses, was introduced. In the main, these vehicles were reclassified from the class known as dual-purpose vehicles which previously had been operating as public transport although the