Police-1963-1964 — Page 44

171. Candidates are required to purchase test-forms before they can be registered for driving tests and 60,427 of these were sold during the year. The number of licensed drivers is now 148,706. Further details of driving tests conducted and driving licences issued are contained in Appendix 28.

INSPECTION OF VEHICLES

172. 37,461 motorized and 841 non-motorized vehicles were inspected. These inspections are carried out by a section of the Traffic Office in three ways: all public vehicles are regularly inspected, vehicles involved in serious accidents are inspected and spot-checks are made on other vehicles, particularly those apparently in poor condition. Comparative figures for the past five years are at Appendix 29.

173. As part of a campaign to encourage driving on dipped head- lights after dark, a number of checks were also made on headlight-dipping mechanisms. While the campaign was in progress, 902 drivers took advantage of free headlight-testing facilities made available at temporary inspection centres on the Island and in Kowloon. The headlights of 214 vehicles were found defective.

174. Three new civilian posts of Mechanical Inspector were filled by overseas officers towards the end of the year. These officers relieved Police Inspectors of the more complex and technical aspects of vehicle inspection.

175. This function of vehicle inspection is becoming increasingly more demanding with the rising number of vehicles on our roads. The provision of these new posts of civilian mechanical inspectors will go some way to meet this problem.

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ROAD ACCIDENTS

176. There were 12,931 road accidents of which 260 were fatal. Comparative figures for the five years since 1959-60 are as follows:

Fatal accidents...

Involving serious injuries

Involving slight injuries

Damage only

1959-60 1960-61

1961-62

1962-63

1963-64

177

196

206

277

260

1,179

1,756

1,917

2,300

2,295

5,275

5,081

5,250

6,006

6,426

8,922

曲

7,618

7,634

7,554

3,950

177. The marked decrease in the number of accidents involving damage only results from new legislation absolving motorists from

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