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Following is a question by the Hon Li Fung-ying and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (February 28) :
Question:
In view of the successive incidents involving broken window glasses of franchised buses in recent months, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of incidents involving broken window glasses of franchised buses while in service and the resultant casualties in each of the past three years, with a detailed breakdown of the particulars of the bus involved in each of the incidents, including the bus company it belonged to, its model, age and the route(s) served as well as the position(s) of the broken window glass(es) and the cause(s) of the incident; and
(b) given that the franchised bus companies, after conducting tests on the upper deck toughened glass windscreens of franchised buses in conjunction with the authorities, have agreed to carry out modification works on such windscreens of all buses or replace them with laminated glass by mid-2008, whether the relevant franchised bus companies will carry out such works by phases; if they will, of the details, timetable and the costs of the works of various phases; and
(c) whether the authorities and the franchised bus companies will, apart from carrying out the above tests and modification works, take any other follow-up actions and measures in response to the above incidents, in order to prevent recurrence of similar incidents; if they will, of the details of the measures and the implementation timetable?
Reply:
Madam President,
According to the information submitted by the franchised bus companies to the Transport Department (TD), there were 2, 6 and 12 incidents involving passengers injured by broken bus windows in 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively. They involved 3, 6 and 16 injuries in 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively. The particulars of the bus involved in each incident are at the Annex. According to investigations by the bus companies, the major causes for the incidents were impact by foreign objects and undue opening and closing of windows. There was no direct relationship between broken window glass and the bus model and age etc.
The two types of vehicle glass used on franchised buses are laminated glass and toughened glass, both of which can reduce injury when broken. Laminated glass has a plastic interlayer in between two glass layers and is designed to retain the fragments when the glass is shattered. Toughened glass has been heat-treated to increase its strength, which allows it to fracture into small pieces when it breaks. Since the recent incidents of broken windows on franchised buses usually involved toughened glass, TD has, in conjunction with the bus companies, conducted studies and tests with a view to enhancing the safety of toughened glass. Test results show that attaching a transparent anti-shatter protective film to toughened glass can effectively prevent it from shattering when it breaks accidentally, thereby preventing passenger injuries.
At present, toughened glass is usually used on the upper deck of buses. All franchised bus companies have agreed either to carry out the above improvement measure to the toughened windscreens on the upper deck, or replace them with laminated glass. The number of buses involved is about 2,400. The bus companies are purchasing the materials and will carry out the improvement works on each bus during its annual maintenance. The entire improvement programme is expected to be completed by mid-2008. The estimated total cost of the works is about $1.44 million.
In addition to the improvements to existing buses, the concerned bus companies have also undertaken that only laminated glass will be used on the windscreens of new buses and for replacing existing toughened glass windscreens.
Ends/Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:16
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