The chairman of the Legislative Council's transport panel, Ben Chan, on Thursday proposed extending mandatory monitoring systems for driver fatigue to all new private and commercial vehicles.

His remarks came after Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan on Wednesday revealed plans to make it mandatory for all new franchised buses to be equipped with such systems starting next month.

Currently, about 40 percent of franchised buses have installed such systems.

However, speaking on an RTHK radio programme, Ben Chan said the technology for such systems would need to improve before a full rollout.

“Some of the cars I have driven had monitoring systems,” he said.

"However, they are not so smart. Sometimes, when I just turned my head slightly to check the mirror on the left side, the system would issue an alert.

"There is also a lane-keeping system. It would make a noise and vibrate when I tried to cross to the next lane. This is quite annoying when one is driving."

Also speaking on the programme, fellow transport panel member Mark Chong said he thinks a broader discussion in society is needed over the matter.

“If you say that all vehicles need to install these systems, will you also require all vehicles keep the systems on? Because, from my understanding, I know that drivers can also turn the systems off," he said.

"I am more concerned about commercial vehicles. Of course, for their own safety, I would suggest drivers of private vehicles install them. But whether it is necessary to make it mandatory, I think, needs to be further discussed.”

For his part, James Kong, chairman of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said he hoped monitoring systems could be connected to a manned backend control room in the future so that there would be more targeted alerts and the provision of further advice to drivers upon fatigue being detected.

He also proposed that private vehicles install a rear-end collision warning system, saying that would help reduce accident rates.



Edited by Tony Sabine