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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah and a reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, in the Legislative Council meeting today (December 7):
Question:
Regarding the enhancement of the safety of public light bus (PLB) operations, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given that some liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) PLBs are not provided with the relevant type approval certificates from the car manufacturers, resulting in the PLB owners concerned not being able to install specifications-compliant seat belts on their vehicles, of the percentage of such PLBs in all LPG PLBs in Hong Kong;
(b) whether it will explore the ways to help the owners concerned to obtain the required information from the car manufacturers, so that they can install the seat belts on their PLBs as soon as possible; and
(c) whether it will consider assisting the owners of all PLBs in Hong Kong in installing seat belts on their PLBs, and enhancing publicity and education on the requirement that passengers on PLBs must wear seat belts?
Reply:
Madam President,
The legislation concerning seat belt on public light bus (PLB) came into effect on August 1, 2004. It stipulates that PLBs registered on or after that date should be equipped with high back seats and retractable seat belts that comply with the standards specified in the legislation. To ensure safety, the seat belts and anchorage points as well as passenger seats and anchorage points should all comply with the standards specified in the legislation, and cannot be altered. Currently, among the 2,330 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) PLBs, 1,280 (55%) have been equipped with seat belts that meet the specified standards. The remaining 1,050 (45%) were registered before the legislation took effect. Hence, most of them are not equipped with the specified high back seats or seat belts, or have altered those facilities, making them unable to meet the current requirements.
We are actively examining with the trade and vehicle manufacturers the details relating to the retrofitting of seat belts, and will continue to provide information and assistance to the PLB owners.
We will endeavour to assist all PLB owners to install seat belts on their PLBs. We will also continue to strengthen publicity and educate the public to wear seat belts on PLBs to enhance road safety. We have provided PLB operators relevant stickers to be posted at the back of the seats. We have also urged PLB operators to instruct drivers to remind passengers to wear seat belts through in-vehicle broadcast or distribution of leaflets.
Ends/Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Issued at HKT 14:49
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