ENG-2008 — Page 310

246 Transport

Olympic Station on the Tung Chung Line and Hang Hau Station on the Tseung Kwan O Line. In all, there are 203 000 off-street public parking spaces (excluding those in government car parks).

Road Safety

Traffic accidents involving death and injury reduced by 6.4 per cent in 2008. There were 14 332 traffic accidents, of which 2 004 were serious and 138 were fatal accidents. This compares with 15 315 accidents in 2007, of which 2 376 were serious and 153 were fatal.

In-depth investigations were carried out at 100 traffic accident blackspots to identify common accident causes. Remedial measures were recommended for 83 of these locations.

With a view to combating and deterring drink driving and other inappropriate driving behaviour, the Government introduced the 'Road Traffic Legislation (Amendment) Ordinance 2008'. Apart from imposing heavier penalties for a number of traffic offences such as drink driving and causing death by dangerous driving, the ordinance introduced random breath test to achieve stronger deterrent effects to drink driving. The ordinance also included the extension of probationary driver licence scheme to novice drivers of private cars and light goods vehicles to further enhance road safety.

The Government's strategy on road safety campaigns focused on the promotion of the road safety vision: 'Zero Accidents on the Road, Hong Kong's Goal', and 'Smart Driving with Courtesy'. Other road safety publicity and education campaigns have continued on the above new amendment legislation, safe and responsible driving, safe cycling and pedestrian safety.

Public Transport and the Environment

Government planning for public transport infrastructure projects is based on sustainable development principles. It strives for the best possible integration of land use, transport and environmental planning. It is also the Government's policy to accord priority to railways which it sees as the backbone of the passenger transport system. Six new railway lines, or extensions of existing lines, were opened between 2002 and 2008, with another two to be opened in 2009.

Less reliance on road-based transport will alleviate the pressure on transport systems and, in turn, lessen the impact on the environment. At the same time, the rationalisation of bus routes and bus stops and the introduction of pedestrian schemes will continue. These will help reduce the adverse effect of vehicle emissions and noise pollution.

Since late 1998, about 4 300 daily bus trips have been eliminated from the busy traffic corridors of Hong Kong Island's northern shore through service cancellation, frequency reduction, route truncation and route amalgamation. On Nathan Road in Kowloon, about 1 500 daily bus trips have been eliminated since August 2002,