ENG-2011 — Page 307

Transport 263

Licensing

At year-end, there were 1853 123 licensed drivers, 623 984 licensed private vehicles and 6 297 government vehicles. There were 434 843 licensed private cars, of which 44 569 were new vehicles registered during the year. Licensed goods. vehicles numbered 111 164, of which 70 359 were light goods vehicles, 37 150 medium goods vehicles and 3 655 heavy goods vehicles. On average, there were 3 956 new learner-drivers per month.

Driver Improvement Scheme

To promote road safety and make drivers more law abiding through better understanding of good driving behaviour and attitude, the Transport Department launched a Driver Improvement Scheme in September 2002 and designated a number of driving schools for the provision of a driving improvement course. Since February 2009, persons falling within the two specified categories have been required to attend the course on a mandatory basis in accordance with the Road Traffic Ordinance and Road Traffic (Driving-offence Points) Ordinance. The two categories are (i) offenders who have been convicted of serious traffic offences; and (ii) traffic offenders who have accumulated 10 Driving Offence Points within two years. From September 2002 to December 2011, about 53 900 drivers attended the course, among them about 26 600 drivers were required to attend the course on a mandatory basis. About 80 per cent of drivers who attended the course did not incur new driving-offence points for six months after the course.

Vehicle Examination

Vehicles are examined routinely to ensure they are safe, roadworthy and properly maintained. In 2011, 196 000 vehicles were examined at the government vehicle examination centres. In addition, 3510 spot checks were carried out on franchised buses to determine their safety, roadworthiness and service standards. Private cars over six years old and light goods vehicles not exceeding 1.9 tonnes are inspected annually at 22 designated car testing centres run by the private sector. These centres carried out 260 000 vehicle examinations.

All vehicles imported into Hong Kong must be examined to make sure they meet statutory requirements before they can be registered and licensed. In 2011, 879 vehicle types were approved.

Intelligent Transport Systems

Mobile applications and a mobile website of 'Hong Kong eTransport', together with a mobile website of 'Driving Route Search Service' were launched in the second half of 2011 which the general public can access free of charge.

Closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras are installed at heavy traffic spots to monitor conditions at these places so that drivers can be alerted to avoid them. There were 333 cameras installed in the urban areas and the new towns and 220 cameras operating on major highways in 2011.

More traffic condition images were disseminated to the public. In 2011, images of 166 strategic locations captured by CCTV cameras were made available to the