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Following is a question by the Hon Christopher Chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
Question:
I have often received complaints from Hong Kong drivers who said that they had encountered some mainland drivers with bad driving attitude and in defiance of traffic regulations when driving in Hong Kong, thus posing a hazard to the safety of road users in Hong Kong. Moreover, it has recently been reported in the press that a large number of candidates sitting for the driving licence test in a mainland city were found to have passed the mainland driving test and obtained driving licences by illegal means. Separately, holders of mainland driving licences who wish to drive in Hong Kong may apply for a Hong Kong driving licence by direct issue without test (direct issue of driving licences); and mainlanders who are visitors to Hong Kong (i.e. persons who take up residence in Hong Kong for a period of not exceeding 12 months) may drive in Hong Kong on strength of their mainland driving licences. Some Hong Kong drivers have doubts about the driving attitude and ability of holders of mainland driving licences, and therefore are concerned that the aforesaid arrangements may pose a hazard to road safety. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of applications received by the Transport Department from mainland drivers for direct issue of driving licences, the respective numbers and percentages of those approved and those rejected among such applications, in each of the past five years, and the main reasons for rejecting some of the applications;
(b) of the number of traffic accidents which involved mainland drivers in each of the past five years; whether the authorities have assessed the impacts on road safety in Hong Kong of direct issue of driving licences to mainlanders and mainland visitors permitted to drive in Hong Kong on strength of their mainland driving licences; if they have assessed, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether the authorities will examine making legislative amendments to abolish the arrangement for direct issue of driving licences to all mainlanders, and require them to pass the Hong Kong driving test before they are issued with Hong Kong driving licences, and to forbid mainland visitors who have obtained their driving licences for the first year from driving in Hong Kong?
Reply:
President,
My replies to the three parts of Hon Chung's question are as follows:
(a) Regulation 11(3) of the Road Traffic (Driving Licences) Regulations (Cap 374B) (the Regulations) stipulates that the Commissioner for Transport (the Commissioner) may issue a Hong Kong full driving licence directly without examination to an applicant who is a holder of a full driving licence issued by a country or place listed in the Fourth Schedule for him to drive a private car, light goods vehicle with permitted gross vehicle weight not over 5.5 tonnes, motor cycle and motor tricycle in Hong Kong. Currently, there are 32 countries or places listed in the Fourth Schedule, including the People's Republic of China (PRC) (see Annex I).
The Transport Department (TD) has kept information on direct issue applications based on driving licences of the People's Republic of China ("Mainland driving licences") only. It does not have statistics on whether the applicants are Mainland drivers.
According to records, the numbers of direct issue applications by Mainland driving licence holders received, approved and rejected between 2008 and 2012 and their respective percentages are tabulated in Annex II.
All the unsuccessful applications were rejected on the ground that the applicants failed to fully meet the requirements under the Regulations. TD's computer system does not have a detailed breakdown on the specific reasons of rejection. Generally, the reasons of rejection include discrepancy between the applicant's overseas driving licence and the information provided by the issuing authority; cancellation or expiration of the driving licence for more than three years; application made not on the basis of a full driving licence; or the applicant not meeting the requirement for period of residence in the country or place of issue under the Regulations.
(b) The traffic accident statistics kept by TD do not contain any breakdown based on whether the driver involved is a Mainland driver. In fact, among those who obtained Hong Kong full driving licences via direct issue with their Mainland driving licences, other than Mainland residents, there are also Hong Kong residents or persons of other nationalities who travel frequently to and from the Mainland for work or study. As such, we cannot tell if a person is a Mainland driver by whether he was granted a Hong Kong full driving licence via a direct issue with his Mainland driving licence alone.
We have tried to review the accident rate involving Mainland driving licence holders with Hong Kong driving licence obtained through direct issue for reference. Before its Vehicles and Drivers Licensing Integrated Data System was upgraded to the fourth generation in February 2007, TD has not kept separate records of applications for "direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence" according to the countries or places which issued the overseas driving licences held by the applicants. As such, all the information of case breakdown by the issuing countries or places reflects only post-February 2007 figures.
According to the relevant statistics as from February 2007, among those who had successfully applied for direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licences with their Mainland driving licences, the headcount involved in traffic accidents in Hong Kong during the period from 2008 to 2012 was 110, with headcount ranging from 10 to 35 per year, equivalent to an average rate of 0.34 per 1 000 of such licence holders. During the same period, the total headcount of Hong Kong private car drivers involved in accidents was 31 717, with an average of about 6 340 per year, equivalent to about 3.54 per 1 000 holders of private car licences.
The Administration has always been concerned about the safety of road users and striving to strike an appropriate balance between promoting road safety and facilitating motorists. To reduce the risk of traffic accidents, TD makes use of the information and data on traffic accidents to identify accident-prone locations and trends for in-depth analysis in order to formulate preventive and improvement measures.
(c) At present, direct issue arrangements in Hong Kong and the Mainland are operated on a mutual recognition principle. The Commissioner may directly issue a Hong Kong full driving licence without examination to an applicant who is a holder of a Mainland driving licence according to the Regulations. At the same time, holders of Hong Kong full driving licence may be directly issued with a Mainland driving licence by the relevant Mainland authorities without taking driving test. We do not have plan or justification for changing the existing mutual recognition arrangements.
Ends/Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Issued at HKT 13:45
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