2005-11-17 14:10 Police today (November 17) remind all passengers to wear seat belts while travelling on public light buses (PLBs) fitted with seat belts. As part of the ongoing efforts to encourage more passengers to protect themselves from injury, the Police have stepped up enforcement measures against PLB passengers for not wearing seat belts, with a special 24-hour operation mounted since yesterday (November 16). Conducted on a territory-wide basis, the operation started from 8 am yesterday and ended at 8 am this morning targetting at PLB passengers who had failed to observe the legislative requirement to wear seat belts. The operation, which had intensively been conducted in the past 24 hours, had resulted in the issue of 231 verbal warnings and 455 summons to PLB passengers. The new legislation, which stated that PLBs registered on or after August 1, 2004 are required to be fitted with seat belts and PLB passengers must wear seat belts if they are installed on their seats, came into effect on August 1, 2004. From August 2004 to October this year, Police have issued 993 verbal warnings to PLB passengers to remind them to fasten their seat belts and 326 summonses for failing to wear seat belts. The Police stressed that it is the passengers' responsibility to ensure that they are securely fastened to their seat by means of a seat belt and any passenger who is found not wearing a seat belt when it is available on a public light bus will be subject to a maximum fine of $5,000 and three months' imprisonment. "The Force has all along been according a high priority to the reduction of deaths and injuries arising from traffic accidents and the subject is included in the Commissioner of Police's Operational Targets," a Police spokesman said. "Police will continue to pro-actively adopt a three-pronged approach of education, publicity and enforcement to tackle the problem with a view to enhancing road safety for all road users in Hong Kong," he added. |