Starting January 25, passengers on all commercial vehicles in Hong Kong will be required to wear seat belts, while all drivers can only have a maximum of two mobile devices on their dashboards.
According to the Transport Department’s statement on Monday, the seat belt rule will apply to all public and private buses, including franchised buses and school buses, as well as container trucks.
Vehicles newly registered after the January deadline must be fitted with seat belts, which passengers must wear while on board.
School buses must retrofit seat belts and safer seats before December 31, 2028, the Transport Department said. Vehicles failing to meet the requirements will no longer be allowed to carry students.
Any vehicle owner, driver, or passenger breaching the seat belt rules may face a maximum fine of HK$5,000 and imprisonment for up to three months.
“Wearing seat belts offers effective protection to passengers in an accident. Studies show that it will reduce the risk of death and serious injury of drivers and passengers in head-on collisions by about 40 per cent and 70 per cent respectively,” the department said.
See also: Hong Kong to require safety seats in private cars for children under age 8 from Saturday
The government’s statement comes after a viral video of a sting operation last month, during which 31 passengers on a minibus were fined for not wearing seat belts. The CCTV footage, dated October 24, showed a plainclothes police officer aboard the minibus declaring the sting and counting how many passengers failed to wear seat belts.
In the first nine months of this year, prior to the October operation, police carried out no seat belt enforcement actions. Meanwhile, there were 13 enforcement actions last year, 97 in 2023, 77 in 2022, and 233 in 2021.
Since July 2018, all newly procured franchised buses have been equipped with seat belts on all seats, while operators have retrofitted seat belts on all upper-deck seats of about 1,900 existing buses, according to the department.
Two-device limit
Apart from the seat belt requirements, the government will also impose a two-device limit on drivers’ dashboards on January 25.
The maximum diagonal length of each screen is capped at 19 centimetres, and the devices must not obstruct the driver’s view of the road and traffic, as well as mirrors, devices or camera monitors fitted for viewing road conditions.
Motorists who violate the device rules may face a HK$2,000 fine.
Both amendments are enacted under Hong Kong’s Road Traffic Ordinance.
“The two amendments aim to enhance the safety of passengers travelling on public transport and commercial vehicles, as well as the safety of using mobile telecommunications devices while driving,” the Transport Department said on September 5, when the amendments were gazetted.
