*******************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Ho Chung-tai and an oral reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, in the Legislative Council meeting today (May 14) :
Question:
In May 2000, the LegCo All Party Clean Air Alliance proposed that legislation be introduced to require motorists to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting. The authorities did not accept the proposal, but indicated that they would adopt an advisory approach to encourage motorists to switch off the engines while waiting. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the measures taken in the past three years to advise motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting, and the effectiveness of such measures;
(b) whether it has conducted studies on the extent to which the air quality will improve by implementing the requirement to switch off vehicle engines while waiting; if so, of the findings; and
(c) whether it will re-consider introducing legislation to require motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting; if so, of the details; if not, the justifications for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(1) In the past three years, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and the Transport Department (TD) have organised a number of publicity functions to promote the message of switching off the engine while waiting. Organisations supportive of environmental protection, such as the Environmental Campaign Committee, District Councils, schools and the transport trade, were either co-organisers or participants of most of these functions.
The functions that were of a larger scale include -
* the pledging ceremony of the "Wait Green - Engine Off" campaign held at the Tamar site in September 2001
* Environmental Protection Festivals 2001 and 2002
* Clean Air Exhibition held in March 2002
* World Environmental Day and Environmental Education Workshop held in June 2002
The other publicity and educational functions include -
* environmental awareness campaigns jointly organised with schools (involving school environmental protection ambassadors), housing estates and other organisations to promote switching off the engine while waiting
* distribution of "No idling engines" guidelines to vehicle owners and drivers through transport trade associations and TD's licensing offices
* distribution in collaboration with the Hong Kong Automobile Association and the transport trade (such as franchised bus companies) of "No idling engines" guidelines to their members, issue by these organisations of similar internal guidelines to their staff, and conduct of training sessions by them to remind their staff to switch off the engine while waiting
* eco-driving seminars for fleet managers and employees in the transport trade
* publicity programmes through TV and radio stations
It is not easy to directly quantify the effectiveness of the publicity functions mentioned above. However, in dealing with complaints against idling engines of public transport, TD will issue written warnings to the operator concerned and demand that improvements be made and the "No idling engines" guidelines be followed. According to the record, the majority of the routes against which a complaint had been filed did not attract further complaints. Moreover, in handling complaints against idling engines of private vehicles, EPD staff will advise and the drivers will switch off their engines on the spot. These indicate the effectiveness of the publicity functions.
(2) We have studied the extent to which air quality can be improved through switching off idling engines. We note that, generally speaking, there are two categories of vehicles with idling engines: those that need to keep their engines running for operational reasons, such as concrete mixers, trucks with an on-board freezer and crane trucks; and passenger vehicles that keep their engines running in order to keep the air-conditioning on. If we ban idling engines by law, the first category of vehicles, i.e. vehicles that need to keep their engines running for operational reasons, should be exempt from the restriction. As regards the second category of vehicles, we believe many of their drivers will, in order to keep the air-conditioning on, choose to circulate on the road instead of stopping and switching off their engines. Since a moving vehicle emits more pollutants than one with its engine idling, banning idling engines by law could be counter-productive.
(3) In considering whether to ban idling engines by law, we have made reference to the practices of other places. We have found out that only a small number of them have legislated against idling engines. As far as we could ascertain, the authorities concerned give out advice rather than taking out prosecutions. Another consideration is how to permit vehicles to keep their air conditioning on after coming to a stop when the weather is hot. In one of the places, the restriction is not enforced when the ambient temperature is above 27 degrees Celsius. If that is applied to Hong Kong, the restriction will not be enforced in the hot summer months when drivers are more prone to keep their engines running in order to keep the air-conditioning on. Having considered the practices of other places and the situation described in Part 2 of the answer above, and after extensive consultations, we have decided to adopt an advisory approach and have issued "No idling engines" guidelines to all sectors of the transport trade. We have also launched a number of publicity functions to advise drivers to switch off the engine while waiting. We informed the Legislative Council Panels on Environmental Affairs and Transport of our advisory approach in February 2001.
Thank you.
End/Wednesday, May 14, 2003
NNNN
