ENG-1993 — Page 327

PUBLIC ORDER

completion at the year's end, with over 90 per cent of the group having been processed. The majority of these people were screened out, pending repatriation to Vietnam either through the Voluntary Repatriation Scheme or the Orderly Repatriation Scheme. Those screened in either have been resettled or are awaiting resettlement in other countries.

It was agreed with the Vietnamese authorities in 1991 that those who were screened in would be resettled, while those screened out would be repatriated to Vietnam. This policy had an immediate deterrent effect, and in 1992 and 1993, the number of arrivals dropped remarkably. There were only 101 arrivals in 1993, compared to 12 in 1992. Every effort was also made to encourage those VMs who had been screened out to return voluntarily to Vietnam. Flights were arranged every month and resettlement programmes were in operation in Vietnam.

There were no major incidents in the VM detention camps. However, searches of camps for homemade weapons, illegal items and alcohol-brewing equipment, and the transportation of VMs between centres and from the centres to the airport under the Orderly Repatriation Programme continued to place heavy demands on police resources.

From June to August, over 2 400 ex-China Vietnamese (ECVIIs) arrived in Hong Kong. All of them were from Beihai in Guangxi Province. The influx apparently stemmed from a re-zoning of the ECVIIS, who were living in illegal squatter areas there. Discussions were held with the mainland authorities and it was agreed that all the ECVIIs would be repatriated to China.

On December 31, the total number of Vietnamese migrants in Hong Kong stood at 32 052, of whom 1 846 were accorded refugee status, 27 564 were classified as non-refugees, 1 687 were awaiting screening and 955 were ECVIIS. Resettlement accounted for 2 571, and 318 births were recorded. A total of 450 were repatriated to Vietnam under the Orderly Repatriation Programme. The figure for voluntary repatriation was 12 301, while 1 518 ECVIIs were returned to China.

Traffic

Traffic congestion was another main area of concern in 1993. Vehicle registrations approached the half million mark at the end of the year. With the steady increase in trade between Hong Kong and other countries, long queues at border crossing points and container terminals led to instances of chronic congestion. Urgent action was being taken by the government to control the length of these queues. A number of well-publicised serious accidents on expressways, which caused severe delays to traffic, highlighted the additional problems associated with high traffic densities and shortage of road space. The increase in vehicular traffic was also keenly felt with regard to parking. About 1.91 million tickets for parking offences were issued, an increase of 41.4 per cent. It became apparent that the deterrent effect of a parking ticket at its existing fine level had been eroded by inflation and prosperity, putting increased pressure on scarce police resources. Legislative amendments were in hand to deal with the situation.

Although traffic accident and casualty rates remained at the same level as that of two years ago, the fatality and serious injury rates were three times greater than those arising from criminal activity. The most common causes of accidents were, again, speed-related. Police action continued to focus on offences which were most likely to result in accidents, through a Selective Traffic Enforcement Policy (STEP), which directs priorities for enforce- ment action according to accident causation factors.

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