Hong Kong News
Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Saturday, Apr 27, 2024
Real, Diverse, Unbiased.
Wan Chai marked the place with the highest number of car accidents
A study showed that pedestrians in Hong Kong streets became the most vulnerable group among all road users, while Wan Chai marked the most dangerous blackspots for pedestrians in five years.
Street Reset - a street design advocacy group - found that 350 pedestrians lost their lives in traffic collisions between 2015 and 2019. "Pedestrians suffer from the highest rate of fatal or serious injuries when compared to other road user types," claimed the group.
From 2015 to 2019, 16,243 pedestrians in Hong Kong suffered injuries in reported collisions, of which 3,703 were killed or seriously injured and accounted for 57 percent of all the injured in the crashes, even though only 19 percent of the collisions involved pedestrians.
Among the injured, elderly pedestrians are the most at risk as accounting for 61 percent of the 350 killed pedestrians between 2015 and 2019 were aged above 65.
"Even though the total number of pedestrian casualties has declined compared to the number between 2010 and 2014," the group said, "elderly pedestrians keep the highest increase of 37.1 percent."
On the other hand, according to the 'Top 10 High-risk Pedestrian Collision Hot zones' listed by the group, five hot zones with the most car crashes are in Kowloon, three are in New Territories, and two in Hong Kong Island.
Wan Chai Road (the section between Heard Street and Burrows Street) is the top-ranked hotzone with the highest crash density (number of collisions per kilometre), which is 243 calculated collisions per kilometer. Johnston Road at the Junction of Spring Garden Lane ranks third with 161 car accidents per kilometer.
Market Streets near Pei Ho Street Municipal Services Building (Pei Ho Street, Kwellin Street, Ki Lung Street, Tai Nan Street & Yu Chau Street) in Sham Shui Po ranked second, with an average of 166.3 accidents per kilometre.
Most hotzones are located on local streets and four hotzones are located near markets or municipal services buildings, which have high pedestrian flows and are key destinations in the neighbourhood.
"A 'forgiving street environment' that is designed around vulnerable road users (including pedestrians) is essential to road safety," the group suggested, "particularly because Hong Kong's population is aging."
From 2015 to 2019, 16,243 pedestrians in Hong Kong suffered injuries in reported collisions, of which 3,703 were killed or seriously injured and accounted for 57 percent of all the injured in the crashes, even though only 19 percent of the collisions involved pedestrians.
Among the injured, elderly pedestrians are the most at risk as accounting for 61 percent of the 350 killed pedestrians between 2015 and 2019 were aged above 65.
"Even though the total number of pedestrian casualties has declined compared to the number between 2010 and 2014," the group said, "elderly pedestrians keep the highest increase of 37.1 percent."
On the other hand, according to the 'Top 10 High-risk Pedestrian Collision Hot zones' listed by the group, five hot zones with the most car crashes are in Kowloon, three are in New Territories, and two in Hong Kong Island.
Wan Chai Road (the section between Heard Street and Burrows Street) is the top-ranked hotzone with the highest crash density (number of collisions per kilometre), which is 243 calculated collisions per kilometer. Johnston Road at the Junction of Spring Garden Lane ranks third with 161 car accidents per kilometer.
Market Streets near Pei Ho Street Municipal Services Building (Pei Ho Street, Kwellin Street, Ki Lung Street, Tai Nan Street & Yu Chau Street) in Sham Shui Po ranked second, with an average of 166.3 accidents per kilometre.
Most hotzones are located on local streets and four hotzones are located near markets or municipal services buildings, which have high pedestrian flows and are key destinations in the neighbourhood.
"A 'forgiving street environment' that is designed around vulnerable road users (including pedestrians) is essential to road safety," the group suggested, "particularly because Hong Kong's population is aging."
