TRANSPORT
A
14 589 complaint cases on traffic and transport matters in 1994. The Secretary for Transport also chairs the Transport Policy Co-ordinating Committee, which oversees the formulation and implementation of major internal transport policies. On local transport matters, the government is advised by the district boards, and their traffic and transport committees.
The Commissioner for Transport, the head of the Transport Department, is the authority for administering the Road Traffic Ordinance and legislation regulating public transport operations other than railways. His responsibilities cover strategic transport planning, road traffic management, government road tunnels, carparks and metered parking spaces, and the regulation of internal roads and waterborne public transport. He is also the authority for the licensing of drivers and the registration, licensing and inspection of vehicles.
While the police force is the principal agency for enforcing traffic legislation and prosecuting offenders, the prosecutions unit of the Transport Department handles pro- secutions involving safety defects found on buses, disqualifications under the Driving Offence Points System, and breaches of vehicle safety regulations and government tunnel regulations. In 1994, the unit handled 36 prosecutions in respect of buses, 5 004 cases for which disqualification was sought under the Driving Offence Points System, and 830 prosecutions in respect of breaches of tunnel and other regulations.
A Transport Tribunal, set up under the Road Traffic Ordinance and chaired by a non- government official, provides the public with a channel of appeal against decisions made by the Commissioner for Transport in respect of the registration and licensing of vehicles, the issue of hire car permits and passenger service licences, and designation of car-testing
centres.
The Transport Department also operates an Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre, which co-ordinates traffic and transport arrangements during serious traffic and transport disruptions, rainstorms and typhoons. The centre undertook eight operations in 1994.
To tackle the area-wide traffic congestion at the Kwai Chung container port, the police operate, when necessary, the Emergency Container Port Traffic Control Centre jointly with representatives of the Transport Department, Kwai Tsing District Office, the three terminal operators, the Container Tractor Owners Association and the Container Transportation Employee's General Union. The control centre is located within the container port and is equipped with a Closed Circuit Television system and efficient communication links. During the year, it operated seven times.
The Director of Highways heads the Highways Department, which is responsible for designing and building all highways, their repair and maintenance, and also for studying new railway proposals.
Planning
The Freight Transport Study was completed during the year. It put forward wide-ranging recommendations to improve the efficiency and operation of the freight industry. The study identified six major freight transport problems and recommended 28 measures to tackle these problems and to meet the projected freight transport demands up to the year 2011. Views on the recommendations have been received from concerned parties, and a freight transport strategy is being prepared.
Also completed during the year was the updating of the strategic transport planning models, using the data on household trips collected from the Travel Characteristics Survey.
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