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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (November 4):
Question:
Some members of the public have relayed to me that the Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance (Cap 611) (the Ordinance), which has come into operation since December 2011, has failed to effectively curb drivers' practice of keeping the engines of their vehicles idling and, as a result, the roadside air pollution problem has not been alleviated. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of complaints received about drivers' violation of the Ordinance, and the number of fixed-penalty tickets issued to offending drivers, by the authorities since January this year;
(2) whether there has been an upward trend in the numbers of relevant complaints received and the fixed-penalty tickets issued by the authorities since the Ordinance came into operation; if so, whether they have assessed the reasons for that; and
(3) of the measures put in place by the authorities to step up law enforcement efforts?
Reply:
President,
The Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance (the Ordinance), which came into operation on December 15, 2011, prohibits drivers from idling vehicle engines for more than three minutes in any 60-minute period so as to reduce environmental nuisances. The Ordinance empowers Environmental Protection Inspectors of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and Traffic Wardens of the Hong Kong Police Force to issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) to offending drivers with a fixed penalty of $320. Traffic Wardens enforce the ban in their daily patrol duties while the EPD is responsible for co-ordinating publicity activities. Enforcement-cum-publicity activities are conducted jointly by the EPD and Traffic Wardens at idling engine black spots to help drivers foster a green driving habit of switching off idling engines.
My specific responses are as follows:
(1) From January to September this year, the EPD received a total of 1 171 complaints against vehicles with idling engines. While law enforcement officers issued FPNs to 47 offending drivers, the remaining drivers either switched off the engines or drove their vehicles away when their vehicles were timed with idling engines. During the same period, law enforcement officers conducted 210 enforcement-cum-publicity activities at idling engine black spots.
(2) and (3) From the commencement of the Ordinance to the end of September this year, the respective numbers of complaints against idling engines received by the EPD each year, vehicles timed with idling engines by law enforcement officers, enforcement-cum-publicity activities conducted at idling engine black spots and FPNs issued as set out in the Annex.
Since the commencement of the Ordinance, apart from enforcement actions, the Government has also helped drivers to foster the habit of switching off idling engines through publicity and education. Throughout the year, we publicise the requirement of switching off idling engines by various means such as leaflets, posters, banners, radio broadcasting and the display of messages on parking meters.
According to our observations, drivers are now generally more mindful of switching off idling engines than before. The number of complaints against vehicles with idling engines in recent years has decreased significantly as compared to 2012 when the Ordinance first came into operation. The number of FPNs issued this year is comparable to that of last year. Furthermore, when conducting enforcement-cum-publicity activities at idling engine black spots, we noticed that there were fewer vehicles with idling engines that needed to be timed.
The Government will continue the two-pronged approach, i.e. enforcement and publicity, to promote the green driving habit of switching off idling engines to reduce environmental nuisances caused by idling vehicles with running engines.
Ends/Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:18
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