ENG-1956 — Page 239

192

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

standard for vehicles, and as a whole sought to increase the general safety of all road users.

One of the most difficult problems is to reconcile the flow of vehicular traffic with the movement of pedestrians in the busy parts of the urban areas. Traffic Safety Campaigns have proved invaluable for promoting road traffic conscious- ness, and the 1956 Road Traffic Exhibition had an estimated attendance of over 200,000 persons. Special attention was also given to the education of schoolchildren in the elementary precautions to be taken for road safety.

The number of road accidents of all kinds rose from 11,775 to 12,001, but the year showed a decrease of 198 accidents resulting in deaths or injury. Comparative figures for the last four years are :

1952 1953

1954

1955

1956

Fatal

106

72

101

139

131

Serious Injury

466

448

621

735

672

Slight Injury Damage only

2,698

*

3,124 3,397

3,745

3,618

4,787 4,892 5,119

7,156

7,580

Totals:

8,057 8,536 9,238 11,775 12,001

The number of drivers increased by 12,458, bringing the total number of licensed drivers up to 61,824 which represents an increase of more than 200% over the last five years. Dur- ing the year 17,902 provisional (learner) driving licences were issued. The number of vehicles increased from 24,986 to 29,004, an addition of 4,018. The average vehicle is used by more than one driver thus increasing the amount of road

usage.

Immigration. The Commissioner of Police is concurrently the Immigration Officer and is responsible for controlling the entry of all persons into the Colony. Some idea of the size and complexity of this problem has already been mentioned in Chapters 1 and 2, dealing with the increasing population. It is sufficient here to say that the movement of 3,009,681