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The Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, encouraged more transport trade members and commercial vehicle drivers to participate in the activities of the Safe Driving and Health Campaign and work together to enhance road safety by maintaining good health and driving attitudes.
Speaking at the ceremony in support of the ongoing campaign today (February 28), Ms Cheng said that the Government is very concerned about the recent situation of drivers driving under the influence of drugs. There were a total of 50 cases of arrests for drug driving last year, of which five involved traffic accidents.
"The new drug driving law has come to the final legislative proceedings, and is scheduled to take effect on March 15. After that it will be an offence for anyone to drive under the influence of drugs to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of a motor vehicle," said Ms Cheng. She called on drivers not to risk violating the law.
She also noted that cycling has become increasingly popular and appealed to motorists and cyclists to always pay attention to road conditions and give way to one another so as to avoid traffic accidents.
She said that the Safe Driving and Health Campaign in the past two years had achieved its objectives. She hoped that the transport trade would continue to encourage more commercial vehicle drivers to participate in the activities of the campaign.
This is the third consecutive year that the Transport Department (TD) has organised the Safe Driving and Health Campaign. The campaign aims to promote road safety by enhancing safe driving and the health awareness of commercial vehicle drivers through a series of promotional activities.
The campaign this year has four main themes: not driving after drinking, paying attention to the influence of drugs on driving, drivers and cyclists to giving way to one another, and being aware of health conditions.
Participating commercial vehicle drivers will not only receive free basic health checks, including physical examination, lipid profiles (including total cholesterol and triglycerides), chest x-rays and fasting blood sugar tests, but can also opt for additional test items, including complete blood count, renal and liver function tests and gout tests, at their own expense.
In addition, the TD has delivered safe driving and health messages to commercial vehicle drivers through radio programmes. The TD has also invited the renowned cartoonist Mr Lee Chi-ching to create a series of comics to depict the importance of safe driving and healthy living in a simple and interesting way. These comics can be viewed on the TD's website (www.td.gov.hk).
Commercial vehicle drivers are also encouraged to take part in seminars and workshops to obtain more information on safe driving and health tips.
Other officiating guests at today's ceremony included the Commissioner for Transport, Mr Joseph Y T Lai; the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Mr Xavier Tang; and the Chairman of the Road Safety Campaign Committee of the Road Safety Council, Mr Eric Cheng.
Ends/Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Issued at HKT 19:14
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