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The Police will mount an operation codenamed "Operation Fossington" during the Easter Holiday to remind drivers to abide by lane discipline on expressways, the Chief Superintendent of Traffic, Mr Tang How-kong, said today (March 27).

Speaking after the opening ceremony of a road safety seminar for public bus drivers, Mr Tang pointed out that under the Road Traffic (Expressway) Regulations, besides overtaking other vehicles, all vehicles travelling along expressways should keep to left side lanes.

He added that a vehicle could only overtake another vehicle on the right side of the later. All heavy vehicles including lorries and buses should not use lanes on the far right.

Any offender will face a maximum penalty of $10,000 fine and six months' imprisonment.

Mr Tang noted:"Occupying an improper lane on an expressway by a vehicle can easily result in following too closely to the vehicle in the front, careless lane changing or improper overtaking, which will increase the chance of a traffic accident."

Police investigation revealed that in 2001 there were 1 489 traffic accidents related to following too closely to the vehicle in the front, 712 traffic accidents related to careless lane changing, and 291 traffic accidents related to improper overtaking, which were the first, second and sixth major driver contributory factors in traffic accidents respectively.

Mr Tang said:"The Police observed that there were 1 099 traffic accidents in 2001, a slight increase of 3.1 per cent as compare with the 1 066 cases in 2000. However, the increase in traffic accidents in term of percentage on a number of expressways is a matter of concern. The situation is particularly noticeable on Tate's Cairn Highway (increased by 23 cases or 91 per cent), Sha Tin section of Tolo Highway (increased by seven cases or 47 per cent), Yuen Long Highway (increased by 10 cases and 20 per cent), Island Eastern Corridor (increased by 26 cases or 18 per cent) and Tsing Long Highway (increased by six cases or 18 per cent) in particular."

He noted that during the Easter Holiday, Police would take vigorous enforcement action on the above expressways as well as on other expressways on which the rate of traffic accidents is considerably high.

In 2001, expressways with the highest numbers of traffic accidents were Tuen Mun Highway (250 cases; compared with 2000, decreased by 4.9 per cent), Island Eastern Corridor (172 cases; increased by 17.8 per cent), Tolo Highway (159 cases; decreased by 1.2 per cent), Fanling Highway (76 cases; decreased by 19.1 per cent), Yuen Long Highway (60 cases; increased by 20 per cent) and Tsuen Wan Highway (60 cases; increased by 11.1 per cent).

The Police prosecuted 3 653 drivers who had breached the lane discipline on expressways on 2001, 3 737 in 2000 and 2 991 in 1999.

Noting that the degree of impact of a vehicle hitting against a stationary vehicle or a lamppost at a speed of 80 kilometres is equivalent to that of a vehicle falling from the top of a eight-storey building, Mr Tang calls on motorists to observe speed limit while driving on expressways.

Police Report No. 7

Issued by PPRB

End/1645 hours, Wednesday, March 27, 2002 (PW)

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