ENG-1981 — Page 188

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PUBLIC ORDER

operations which, for substantial rewards, conveyed people to the coast of Guangdong and then to Hong Kong by fast speedboats, usually under cover of darkness. The price paid for the passage usually included a forged identity card.

To enforce the identity card regulations and to flush out illegal immigrants who evaded arrest, the police assumed the task of checking the identification documents of all residents aged 15 and over. Spot checks, carried out throughout the territory on a daily basis, were supplemented by special operations to arrest illegal immigrants at their hiding places, thus preventing the formation of an underground population. During the year, a total of 1 479 evaders were arrested as a result of all these checks.

Also during the year, 15 302 Vietnamese refugees arrived by sea. Of this number, 3 416 came via China where they had settled after leaving Vietnam during the 1979 exodus. Negotiations with the Chinese authorities resulted in 2 725 being returned to China. Resettlement overseas for other Vietnamese refugees continued to be slow and at the end of 1981 there were still 16 207 refugees living in Hong Kong camps.

Public Order

There were no major incidents affecting Hong Kong's internal security during the year. A number of minor confrontations, mostly related to the clearance of squatter areas, occurred but were resolved without serious incidents.

Traffic

With a continuing increase in the number of registered vehicles and the associated congestion and enforcement problems, there was a rising accident toll with increased management and diversion problems. At the end of the year, there were 330 311 registered vehicles of which no less than 211 556 were private cars.

The traffic accident toll continued to rise with a total of about 18 064 accidents resulting in some 478 people being killed and about 23 109 being injured. Traffic Police_work closely with the Road Safety Division of the Public Works Department in investigations into the cause of accidents. These resulted in recommendations for traffic engineering works to contain the accident rate. The Road Safety Division of the Police Force also continued to spread the road safety message by all possible means particularily with the co-operation of schools, and the school crossing patrols, in a programme of lectures and demonstrations.

To ease congestion in urban areas, the Traffic Police were involved in the planning of public transport priority schemes to shorten journey times for public transport during peak periods. Most of the schemes - except the experimental one at King's Road on the eastern part of the Hong Kong Island - were successful and the Traffic Management Section of Traf- fic Headquarters is participating in 49 studies designed to improve journey times for buses. Another territory-wide problem was the activities of irresponsible drivers who partici- pated in illegal road racing, usually late at night and at weekends. Stringent enforcement action succeeded in reducing this very dangerous practice.

Assistance to the Public

The number of requests from the public for assistance from the police continued to increase during 1981. A total of 544 938 requests for help was received on the '999' telephone system, at police stations, Neighbourhood Police Units, Report Centres, and by patrolling police officers, an increase of 128 975 over last year's 415 963.

A particularly encouraging feature of the requests received was that of the total, 470 803, or 86.4 per cent, were for help in matters not related to crime. These were mainly for general