*********************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Miriam Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (February 18):
Question:
Last month, an elderly man was injured after losing his footing while walking down the staircase from the upper deck of a double-deck bus in motion, and he later died. The bus in question was equipped with a straight staircase, the same type of staircases used on most buses purchased by the franchised bus company concerned in recent years. There have been comments that in accidents of passengers losing their footing on staircases, straight staircases tend to cause more serious injuries to such passengers, as compared to traditional spiral staircases. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the number of accidents in the past five years involving bus passengers losing their footing while walking up or down the staircases, together with a breakdown of such accidents by the franchised bus company involved, the age group (child, adult or elderly) of the passengers involved and the type of staircases (straight or spiral) of the buses involved;
(b) whether the Government has issued guidelines to franchised bus companies on the types and models of buses as well as the safety designs inside bus compartments, etc.; if so, of the details of the guidelines; if not, how the Government assists the bus companies in deciding which types of buses to purchase;
(c) whether the Government has assessed the safety of straight and spiral staircases; if so, of the assessment results; if not, whether the Government will conduct such an assessment; and
(d) what measures are in place to reduce accidents occurring when passengers walk up or down the staircases?
Reply:
President,
With regard to the four parts of the question, my replies are as follows:
(a) According to the statistics on "non-collision franchised bus accidents involving passengers injured on the staircase inside bus compartments", the number of accidents happened on straight and spiral staircases in the past 5 years are in Annex 1, and the number of persons injured by age group are set out in Annex 2.
(b)&(c) The type, model and compartment design of every new bus have to fulfill the requirements stipulated in the Road Traffic (Construction and Maintenance of Vehicles) Regulations (Cap. 374A) before it is allowed to run on the road. The Regulations set out the requirements for steps leading from the lower to the upper deck of a double-decked bus, including the maximum height and minimum depth of the steps, the fitting of non-slip treads on the steps and the provision of grab rails at a suitable height on the staircase. Both the straight and spiral staircases on all serving double-decked buses comply with the relevant requirements. The bus companies may put into service any new bus that meets the required specifications under the legislation. According to the assessment of the bus companies and their European manufacturers, both the straight and spiral staircases are safe.
(d) We are very concerned about the safety of bus passengers. We believe that the chance for passengers to lose their footing while walking up or down the staircase will be lower if they hold the grab rails tightly while walking on the staircase, while bus captains drive the buses smoothly and steadily throughout the journey. We adopt a comprehensive approach to improve road safety focusing on law enforcement, training of bus captains as well as education and publicity.
On law enforcement, the Police prosecute franchised bus captains who fail to ensure passenger safety (such as causing loss of balance and thus injuries of passengers by stopping the buses abruptly and starting the buses negligently) according to the Public Bus Services Regulations.
On training, we emphasize the need for the bus companies to provide sufficient training for their bus captains to ensure that they can drive the buses steadily. We require the bus companies to provide basic training for new drivers and refresher training for serving ones, with a view to improving their safe driving skills, safety awareness and driving behaviour. The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited and Long Win Bus Company Limited have introduced a training programme using driving simulators to help sharpen bus captains'reaction to different road traffic situations. The Citybus Limited and New World First Bus Services Limited issue to every bus captain a pocket size booklet on safe driving behaviour as a handy reference. To ensure that driving attitude and behaviour are maintained at high standards, the franchised bus companies also arrange inspections from time to time to check on the driving behaviour of their bus captains. In addition, the Transport Department, in collaboration with the Police, conducts regular Road Safety Seminars for franchised bus captains to urge and encourage them to adopt a proper driving attitude.
On education and publicity, we arrange frequent broadcast of Announcements in the Public Interest (API) on radio to remind motorists to give way to buses, so that abrupt braking of buses and thus the impact on passengers can be reduced to a minimum. Television APIs are also broadcast to remind passengers of safety precautions such as taking care while walking up or down the staircase and refraining from standing on the staircase. In view of the recent incidents of passengers falling inside bus compartments, we have strengthened these publicity efforts. The franchised bus companies also make use of television APIs, light box advertisements, on-board broadcast, bus body advertisements and signs to remind passengers of safety precautions on buses and to convey to motorists the message of giving way to buses as far as possible.
Ends/Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Issued at HKT 12:01
NNNN
