LCQ5: Effectiveness of advising motorists to switch off
vehicle engines while waiting
******************************************************** Following is a question by the Hon James Tien and an oral reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, in the Legislative Council meeting today (October 19) :
Question:
In May 2000, the Legislative Council All-Party Clean Air Alliance proposed to legislate to require motorists to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting. However, the Government did not accept the proposal, only indicating that it would organize publicity and educational activities to advise motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints received by the relevant authorities in each of the past three years about motorists not switching off vehicle engines while waiting, together with a breakdown by class of vehicles;
(b) of the number of times staff of the Environmental Protection Department carried out operations in the past three years to advise motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting at the roadside, the total number of working hours spent on these operations, the total number of such advice given, and the percentage of motorists who heeded such advice by switching off vehicle engines immediately; and
(c) whether it has assessed the overall effectiveness of such publicity and educational activities in promoting compliance by motorists of vehicles of various categories; if so, of the criteria adopted for assessment and how the assessment results compare to the intended effects of such activities; whether it will reconsider legislating to require motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Government is very concerned about the air quality in Hong Kong. We will support any useful measures that can improve the local air quality and seriously consider the implementation.
During 2000-2001, the Government conducted consultation on Legislative Council All-Party Clean Air Alliance's proposal to legislate to require motorists to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting. The issue was also discussed at the Legislative Council. The government also consulted the 18 District Councils and the transport trade associations as well as the relevant Legislative Council committee on the proposal. Views were different on the issue. In conclusion, we decided to draw up guidelines and join effort with the transport trade associations to appeal to drivers to reduce the nuisance caused to pedestrians and residents by idling engines.
The consultation results and the proposal were reported to the Panel on Environmental Affairs of the Legislative Council on 27 February 2001. The Chief Executive's Policy Address this year has reiterated that the Administration would issue guidelines to all government vehicle drivers to switch off vehicle engines while waiting and call upon private car drivers to adopt the same self-discipline.
In 2002, 2003 and 2004, Environmental Protection Department (EPD) received 238, 236 and 296 complaints against idling engines respectively. A breakdown of the complaints by vehicle types is in the Annex.
(b) In 2002, 2003 and 2004, EPD carried out 264 (528 man-hours), 267 (534 man-hours) and 366 (732 man-hours) operations respectively to advise drivers to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting at the roadside. During these operations, the EPD staff gave advice to all drivers who failed to switch off the engines while waiting. Based on the experience of the EPD staff, only a very small number of drivers disregarded the advice. Most of them would switch off the engines or drive away immediately. The advisory approach adopted by EPD in dealing with complaints about idling engines is quite successful. In the 770 complaint cases handled in the past 3 years, 77% (593 cases) did not attract further complaints from the complainants.
If the idling vehicle belongs to a company fleet operator, the EPD staff will issue an advisory letter to remind the management of the company to instruct its staff to switch off vehicle engines while waiting.
(c) Since September 2001, the Government has actively organizing promotional and educational activities on "No idling engines". The number of complaints received by the EPD was 285 in 2001, 238 in 2002 and 236 in 2003. The number of complaints received in 2004 increased to 296 because the number of complaints against tour coaches in 2004 was 56 more than that in 2003. We believe that the significant increase was due to the strong growth of the local tourist industry.
To tackle the idling engine problem of tourist coaches, we, together with Hong Kong Tourism Board, Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, Tourism Commission and Transport Department have strengthened our publicity campaign of 'no idling engine' in 2004 for the tourist industry and prepared guidelines targeted specifically at the tourist industry.
EPD has also requested the Tourism Commission to issue a special circular to the tourist industry shortly before peak tour seasons to remind tourist coach drivers to switch off vehicle engines while waiting.
As I said earlier, of the 770 complaints received by the EPD in the past three years, 77% (593) did not attract further complaints from the complainants. Moreover, the Transport Department (TD) will issue warning letters to the public transport operators(e.g. franchised buses and public light buses), if their vehicles are under complaint, asking for compliance with the "No idling engines" guidelines. According to TD's records, of the 61 routes against which a warning had been issued in the past three years, 55 (90%) did not attract further complaints. As such, we consider the approach of advising drivers to switch off the engines while waiting through education and publicity effective.
The Government will continue to appeal to drivers to exercise self-discipline on "No idling engines" through promotional and educational activities.
Annex
*****
The Number of Complaints Against Idling Vehicles Received by EPD
****************************************************************
Vehicle Class 2002 2003 2004
************* **** **** ****
Non franchised buses 65 73 123
Public light buses 62 49 64
Goods vehicles 47 45 57
Franchised buses 18 7 8
Taxis 9 5 7
Private cars 9 6 6
Government vehicles 2 4 3
Other types of vehicles 26 47 28
vehicle engines while waiting
******************************************************** Following is a question by the Hon James Tien and an oral reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, in the Legislative Council meeting today (October 19) :
Question:
In May 2000, the Legislative Council All-Party Clean Air Alliance proposed to legislate to require motorists to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting. However, the Government did not accept the proposal, only indicating that it would organize publicity and educational activities to advise motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints received by the relevant authorities in each of the past three years about motorists not switching off vehicle engines while waiting, together with a breakdown by class of vehicles;
(b) of the number of times staff of the Environmental Protection Department carried out operations in the past three years to advise motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting at the roadside, the total number of working hours spent on these operations, the total number of such advice given, and the percentage of motorists who heeded such advice by switching off vehicle engines immediately; and
(c) whether it has assessed the overall effectiveness of such publicity and educational activities in promoting compliance by motorists of vehicles of various categories; if so, of the criteria adopted for assessment and how the assessment results compare to the intended effects of such activities; whether it will reconsider legislating to require motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Government is very concerned about the air quality in Hong Kong. We will support any useful measures that can improve the local air quality and seriously consider the implementation.
During 2000-2001, the Government conducted consultation on Legislative Council All-Party Clean Air Alliance's proposal to legislate to require motorists to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting. The issue was also discussed at the Legislative Council. The government also consulted the 18 District Councils and the transport trade associations as well as the relevant Legislative Council committee on the proposal. Views were different on the issue. In conclusion, we decided to draw up guidelines and join effort with the transport trade associations to appeal to drivers to reduce the nuisance caused to pedestrians and residents by idling engines.
The consultation results and the proposal were reported to the Panel on Environmental Affairs of the Legislative Council on 27 February 2001. The Chief Executive's Policy Address this year has reiterated that the Administration would issue guidelines to all government vehicle drivers to switch off vehicle engines while waiting and call upon private car drivers to adopt the same self-discipline.
In 2002, 2003 and 2004, Environmental Protection Department (EPD) received 238, 236 and 296 complaints against idling engines respectively. A breakdown of the complaints by vehicle types is in the Annex.
(b) In 2002, 2003 and 2004, EPD carried out 264 (528 man-hours), 267 (534 man-hours) and 366 (732 man-hours) operations respectively to advise drivers to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting at the roadside. During these operations, the EPD staff gave advice to all drivers who failed to switch off the engines while waiting. Based on the experience of the EPD staff, only a very small number of drivers disregarded the advice. Most of them would switch off the engines or drive away immediately. The advisory approach adopted by EPD in dealing with complaints about idling engines is quite successful. In the 770 complaint cases handled in the past 3 years, 77% (593 cases) did not attract further complaints from the complainants.
If the idling vehicle belongs to a company fleet operator, the EPD staff will issue an advisory letter to remind the management of the company to instruct its staff to switch off vehicle engines while waiting.
(c) Since September 2001, the Government has actively organizing promotional and educational activities on "No idling engines". The number of complaints received by the EPD was 285 in 2001, 238 in 2002 and 236 in 2003. The number of complaints received in 2004 increased to 296 because the number of complaints against tour coaches in 2004 was 56 more than that in 2003. We believe that the significant increase was due to the strong growth of the local tourist industry.
To tackle the idling engine problem of tourist coaches, we, together with Hong Kong Tourism Board, Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, Tourism Commission and Transport Department have strengthened our publicity campaign of 'no idling engine' in 2004 for the tourist industry and prepared guidelines targeted specifically at the tourist industry.
EPD has also requested the Tourism Commission to issue a special circular to the tourist industry shortly before peak tour seasons to remind tourist coach drivers to switch off vehicle engines while waiting.
As I said earlier, of the 770 complaints received by the EPD in the past three years, 77% (593) did not attract further complaints from the complainants. Moreover, the Transport Department (TD) will issue warning letters to the public transport operators(e.g. franchised buses and public light buses), if their vehicles are under complaint, asking for compliance with the "No idling engines" guidelines. According to TD's records, of the 61 routes against which a warning had been issued in the past three years, 55 (90%) did not attract further complaints. As such, we consider the approach of advising drivers to switch off the engines while waiting through education and publicity effective.
The Government will continue to appeal to drivers to exercise self-discipline on "No idling engines" through promotional and educational activities.
Annex
*****
The Number of Complaints Against Idling Vehicles Received by EPD
****************************************************************
Vehicle Class 2002 2003 2004
************* **** **** ****
Non franchised buses 65 73 123
Public light buses 62 49 64
Goods vehicles 47 45 57
Franchised buses 18 7 8
Taxis 9 5 7
Private cars 9 6 6
Government vehicles 2 4 3
Other types of vehicles 26 47 28
Ends/Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Issued at HKT 16:55
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