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Following is a question by the Hon Kenneth Leung and a reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (December 18):
Question:
The Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance (the Ordinance), which came into operation on December 15, 2011, aims at improving roadside air quality. Recently, there have been press reports querying the perfunctory law enforcement by the Government with the result that the roadside air quality in urban areas has not improved and motorists have not developed green driving habits. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of authorised law enforcement officers and the total payroll costs for the relevant law enforcement work each year since the Ordinance came into operation; whether the authorities will increase the manpower to step up law enforcement;
(b) whether the authorities have monitored the air quality in locations where pollution caused by vehicle emissions is more serious (e.g. minibus terminals) since the Ordinance came into operation, so as to assess the effectiveness of the Ordinance in improving air quality; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether the authorities have adopted other means to assess the effectiveness of the Ordinance; of the difficulties encountered by the authorities in law enforcement and the authorities' solutions; and the latest list of black spots of idling engines; and
(c) of the respective numbers of vehicles timed, verbal warnings given and fixed penalty notices issued by the authorities to motorists who did not switch off idling engines, each month since the Ordinance came into operation; of a breakdown of such numbers by vehicle class, and the number of government vehicles involved?
Reply:
President,
(a) The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance (the Ordinance). A two-pronged implementation approach has been adopted, i.e. by educating drivers of motor vehicles and patrolling. In terms of publicity, we distribute leaflets to the drivers and disseminate advertisements in television stations and radio stations in order to help drivers to develop driving habit of switching off the idling engines of stationary vehicles. The Traffic Wardens (TWs) of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) and the Environmental Protection Inspectors (EPIs) of the EPD are empowered to enforce the Ordinance. The TWs of HKPF will issue fixed penalty notices to drivers who contravene the idling prohibition in their daily patrol duties. To support the work, the HKPF has created 18 TW posts, the total number of which is about 298. For EPD, we have about 383 EPIs who are also empowered to issue fixed penalty notices, and the EPIs will take joint enforcement actions with TWs at the black spots. Since the Ordinance came into operation, 677 joint actions were taken, 3 070 vehicles were timed and 86 fixed penalty notices were issued by enforcement officers. The existing establishment can cope with the enforcement work.
(b) Implementation of the legislation is to prevent idling engines from causing air pollution as well as minimising disturbance from hot exhaust and noise to the pedestrians and staff in the shops nearby. For the purpose of improving the overall air quality, the effect of switching off idling engines will not be too significant. To improve the overall air quality of Hong Kong, we should reduce local emissions of air pollutants from vehicles, vessels and power stations, as well as pollution sources in the Pearl River Delta region.
We have been monitoring the effectiveness of implementing the Ordinance, particularly at black spots of idling engines. According to our observation, the majority of drivers have complied with the requirements since the enactment of the Ordinance. As to individual drivers who did not comply with the idling prohibition, virtually all of them switched off the engines when law enforcement officers started timing.
In order to strengthen the enforcement work against non-complying drivers, we will list locations where two or more complaints on idling vehicles were received over a three month period as idling engine black spots. TWs have been advised to pay more attention to these black spots during patrol duties. EPIs will also join with TWs to conduct publicity-cum-enforcement activities at these locations. The latest idling engine black spots are listed in Annex I.
(c) The Ordinance empowers law enforcement officers to issue fixed penalty notices to drivers who violated the Ordinance without issuing warning. As a transitional arrangement, during the first month of implementation, law enforcement officers would first give a verbal warning to drivers in breach of the law and would only issue a fixed penalty notice when the warning was ignored. During the first month, law enforcement officers had given 457 warnings. All drivers being warned had switched off their engines immediately.
From the commencement of the Ordinance to the end of November 2013, law enforcement officers have timed 3 070 vehicles with idling engines. Among them, 86 drivers who violated the Ordinance (i.e. not switching off their engines within 3 minutes) had been issued with fixed penalty notices. The remaining drivers either switched off the engines or drove their vehicles away immediately. Relevant figures are set out in Annexes II and III. No government vehicle was involved. We will continue to conduct the publicity-cum-enforcement activities. Together with peer influence among drivers, we hope to help drivers incubate and realise a green driving habit.
Thank you, President.
Ends/Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:05
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