Driver Mr Ip, 33, smashed his heavy car through railings on Boundary Street this afternoon: four, including a one-year-old baby and his mother, were sent to hospital

A 33-year-old SUV driver was arrested this afternoon after he lost control of his car and smashed through railings into a roadside bench, hospitalising an elderly couple as well as a mother and her baby.

Driver Mr Ip was driving his gray KIA SUV east on Boundary Street at 3:21pm when he lost control just after the junction with Sai Yee Street. The crash saw railings wrenched out of the concrete and scattered under the car, with the car’s front wheels pressed against a public bench.

Victims Ms Lee, 74, and her husband Mr Lui, 75, were taken to Kwong Wah Hospital with hand, shoulder and foot injuries while Ms Au, 39, and her one-year-old son were taken to Queen Elizabeth hospital – the mother suffered foot injuries while the baby had no superficial injuries but was admitted for examination after the horrific smash.

Police arrested Mr Ip, 33, for dangerous driving.

That stretch of Boundary Street was busy with shoppers from the nearby flower market and the public holiday FarmFest ongoing at the nearby Fa Hui Park.

A year ago a BMW driver smashed through railings into a shop, killing two pedestrians

The crash echoes a disaster from almost exactly a year ago, when a 25-year-old BMW driver lost control of his car on a busy San Po Kong street, smashing through railings into a shop and killing two pedestrians.

Government officials since stonewalled questions on pavement safety, while the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design said a consultancy study into pedestrianising the area was “grossly inadequate” and called for a “safe systems approach” such as reducing vehicle speeds.

55 pedestrians were killed in 2021 while 439 suffered life-changing injuries.