Police on Hong Kong Island summonsed 78 pedestrians for jaywalking offences yesterday

Police on Hong Kong Island summonsed 78 pedestrians and ticketed one driver yesterday in a crackdown on “crossing the road indiscriminately” and abuse of zebra crossings.

Under an operation codenamed “AUTOBINDER”, pedestrians caught crossing against the “green man” or crossing the road within 15 metres of pedestrian crossing facilities will have to deal with the courts.

Police say they also ticketed one driver for “not letting pedestrians on zebra crossings go first” and also used mobile video law enforcement to film five other suspected violations of that rule, although no tickets or prosecutions had been made in those cases.

Pedestrian enforcement almost doubled in 2021, with 8,814 prosecutions against 4,473 in 2020. Careless driving enforcement was up just 5% over the year while traffic signal enforcement actually dropped 1%.

Meanwhile Chief Executive candidate John Lee today told Transit Jam that road safety was “an important area”, but that all road users, including pedestrians, needed to play their part.

“What is important is citizen awareness of their own behaviour,” he said. “So it is also important that people know the rules and regulations, the proper behaviour in crossing roads collectively. Then then I think the road safety will be in a very good position.”

Lee told Transit Jam he would push for more education campaigns and more publicity at the district level.