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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kwok-him and a reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (June 30):
Question:
It has been reported earlier that the underframe fuel pipes of two buses fractured after the buses were driven one after the other over the same section of a road which was covered temporarily with steel plates, and it is suspected that the fractures were caused by the pipes being hit by the steel plates which bounced up. Also, at the end of last month, the windshield of a private car was punctured by a piece of metal strip which was swept up from the road surface by the preceding car. Moreover, I have also received complaints from quite a number of motorists pointing out that quite a number of traffic signs have been erected or placed at inappropriate locations (e.g. signs advising motorists to make a turn are placed too close to the lanes), unclear or obstructed by trees, thus increasing the risk of traffic accidents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of cases of damaged road surface found by the authorities and the number of relevant complaints received from members of the public in the past two years, as well as the average time taken by the authorities to handle such complaints;
(b) what specific safety standards are currently adopted by the authorities for the installation of temporary facilities (including the steel plates covering potholes and stabilising structures, sign plates for road maintenance works, fences and traffic cones, etc.) during street excavations carried out by government departments as well as public and private organisations, and what measures they have in place to ensure that all temporary facilities within the works areas comply with the safety standards; of the number of cases involving the breach of safety standards found by the authorities in the past two years and the follow-up actions taken; and
(c) of the number of complaints received from members of the public in the past two years about traffic signs being erected or placed at inappropriate locations or having unclear instructions and, among them, the number of those in which follow-up actions were required, and the average time taken to handle such complaints?
Reply:
President,
(a) With more than 570,000 vehicles running along a total length of 2,000 kilometres of public roads, the road utilisation rate in Hong Kong is among the highest in the world. To protect the safety of road users, the Highways Department (HyD) has put in place arrangements for regular inspections of public roads across the territory to ensure that they are kept in good condition. Regular inspections can be broadly divided into two types : the first type is "safety inspections" which focus on the safety aspects of roads; the second type is "detailed inspections" which facilitate the mid- and long-term planning of repair works.
The purpose of conducting safety inspections is to identify damages which pose threats or cause inconvenience to the public to allow for prompt repairs. The frequency of the inspections depends on the road type concerned: expressways carrying high-speed and heavy vehicular traffic are inspected daily, major trunk roads and other urban trunk roads are inspected weekly, while the remaining roads are inspected once every one to three months. The HyD will arrange repairs immediately when damages to road are identified so as to keep the roads in good condition and ensure the safety of road users. As regards detailed inspections, they are conducted on each road roughly on a biannually basis to help the HyD collect data on road surface condition and road structure for mid- and long-term planning of repair works. This in turn facilitates systematic maintenance for preventive purpose.
Separately, the HyD has set up a hotline and also liaised closely with other government departments and the 1823 Citizen's Easy Link to receive from various channels reports on damages to roads or relevant facilities for arrangement of repairs to further protect road safety.
In the past two years, the HyD identified about 2,700 cases of road damage during safety inspections and detailed inspections. Breaking down by region, there were about 800 such cases on Hong Kong Island, 700 in Kowloon and 1,200 in the New Territories. During the same period, the HyD received about 1,400 reports of road damage from the public and 75 cases of defective road surface referred by other departments. Over 90% of the above cases involved local damages which had minor impact on road condition and posed no immediate danger to the traffic. Upon receiving reports on road damages, the HyD will arrange repairs promptly. In most cases, repairs can be completed within 24 hours.
(b) For excavation works on public roads, to minimise the impact of the works on the public and traffic, the HyD has set up the excavation permit system to effectively manage and co-ordinate excavation permit applications from the promoter of the excavation works (the promoter), so that the works are carried out in a manner that is orderly and in accordance with public safety.
Before carrying out any excavation works, the promoter is required to apply to the HyD for an excavation permit. The conditions of such permits stipulate that the promoter shall, during the course of the works, follow the Code of Practice for the Lighting, Signing and Guarding of Road Works compiled by the HyD and place temporary traffic signs and facilities properly in accordance with the Standard Drawings of the HyD. For example, adequate warning lanterns, traffic signs and guarding equipment should be installed during the course of the works. And all obstructions and excavations on public roads should be well guarded at all times (such as providing sufficient lighting, and erecting traffic signs and barriers, etc.) to protect the safety of road users.
Moreover, if the works involve temporary traffic arrangements, the promoter shall submit the proposed temporary traffic arrangements to the Transport Department (TD) and the Hong Kong Police Force for approval before the works commence, so as to ensure that the works will not affect the traffic seriously.
On the other hand, to ensure that the promoter follows the relevant requirements in implementing the works, the HyD also conducts unannounced spot-checks of the excavation sites. In case of non-compliance , a notice will be issued to the holder of the excavation permit (the permittee) to require prompt rectification having regard to the actual circumstances. If there is no improvement, the HyD will consider initiating prosecution action under the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance. Moreover, if there is actual need, the HyD may also take the improvement measures required and recover the cost from the permittee under the provision of the Ordinance.
In the past two years, the HyD conducted about 201,000 inspections of excavation works in progress. Most sites were found to be in compliance with the requirements. The percentage of non-compliance which involved the placing of steel plates, erection of trench shoring and installation of temporary road closure facilities was less than 1%. In respect of the non-compliance cases, the HyD issued a total of 2,869 non-compliance notices to order the permittees and contractors concerned to rectify the non-compliance items immediately. Among them, the HyD served summons in 78 cases on parties concerned who failed to take improvement measures as required. Prosecution was successful in all the cases.
(c) The TD does not keep statistics on the number of complaints about traffic signs being placed at inappropriate locations or unclear signage, or on the time taken to handle such complaints. Given the limited time available, the TD has reviewed the complaint records for the past three months. The records show that an average of 13 complaints concerning traffic signs were received per month. About 40% of them required follow-up actions, such as arrangements made by the TD to remove objects obstructing traffic signs, add/replace traffic signs, relocate traffic signs, and amend the contents of traffic signs, etc.
Ends/Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:55
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