ENG-2000 — Page 306

254

TRANSPORT

Automatic Toll Collection

Automatic toll collection systems (called autotoll systems) were installed at the Cross- Harbour and Aberdeen Tunnels in August 1993, Lion Rock Tunnel in August 1994, Eastern Harbour Crossing in September 1995, Tate's Cairn Tunnel in May 1996, Western Harbour Crossing in April 1997, Shing Mun Tunnels and Tseung Kwan O Tunnel in October 1997, Tai Lam Tunnel in June 1998 and Lantau Link in July 1998. They allow motorists to drive through designated toll booths without stopping to pay toll. Since October 1998, the autotoll systems have been unified so that a subscriber needs only one tag to use all tunnels and toll roads fitted with the system. In 2000, about 41 per cent of motorists used the autotoll system when passing through the tunnels and toll roads.

Parking

The management and operation of on-street metered parking spaces is contracted out to a private operator. On-street parking is provided where traffic conditions permit. At the end of 2000, Hong Kong had 16 500 metered parking spaces, with electronic parking meter charging in operation mainly between 8 am and midnight from Monday to Saturday. Meter charging in areas of high demand has been extended to include Sundays and public holidays to better ration the use of the parking spaces. Trial schemes on the use of reloadable smart cards and contactless 'Octopus' cards to pay parking meter fees were launched in 2000.

The Government owns 13 multi-storey carparks which provide about 7 300 parking spaces. They are operated and managed by two private operators under management contracts with the Government.

Off-street public parking is provided by the Airport Authority at the airport at Chek Lap Kok, the Housing Department in its housing estates, the MTRC stations in Kowloon and Tsing Yi, and the KCRC at the railway terminus in Hung Hom. Private sector multi-storey and open-air public carparks in commercial/residential buildings and open-air lots provide more than 572 700 parking spaces.

Road Safety

In 2000, there were 14 949 traffic accidents involving injuries, of which 162 were fatal and 2 838 were serious. There was an overall decrease of 1.6 per cent compared with the previous year (in 1999, there were 14 714 traffic accidents of which 202 were fatal and 2 808 serious). In-depth investigations were carried out at 146 traffic accident blacksites and two problematic areas to identify common accident causes. Remedial measures were recommended at 129 of these locations and the two areas studied.

Accident records are updated regularly to provide a basis for traffic accident analysis and formulation of road safety strategies.

By the end of 2000, 51 red light camera systems were installed to deter motorists from disobeying traffic signals and 10 speed enforcement camera systems were installed to deter speeding; 60 additional red light and 75 speed enforcement camera systems will be provided by mid-2003.

During the year, a series of legislative measures were implemented or introduced to improve road safety. One of the measures is the prohibition of the use of hand-held mobile phones by motorists while their vehicles are moving from July 1.