More pedestrian-oriented elements appear on the roads

Chole Lau, 32, never thought she would receive a court summons. But on her way to lunch this June, she had crossed the street at a red light to save her precious lunch break. 

The police officer gave her a ticket for jaywalking on the spot. Two weeks later, she received a summons from the court. Lau sent a written plea of guilty to the charges, then received a notice to pay a fine of HK$300 a few days later, finally ending this matter.

“It’s the first summons I received in my life,” Lau said. “I thought I would just get a ticket, but I didn't expect to receive a court summons.” 

Now, with traffic accidents involving pedestrian injuries and deaths rising 12% in 2023, according to police statistics, the police hope to strengthen public awareness of pedestrian safety through a crackdown on people who break the traffic rules, such as Lau.  

But Justin Yim, the founder of Street Reset, an organization calling for street design changes in Hong Kong, said that the widespread phenomenon of “jaywalking” reflects the discrepancy between pedestrians' needs and the road design of Hong Kong. 

According to the 2015 Road Safety Council Annual Report, the Road Safety Council began to develop new platforms to highlight the most pressing road safety concerns. From 2015 to 2022, pedestrian casualties decreased for most age groups compared to 2010-2014, except for a 37.1% rise in the 65 to 69 age group, according to the Hong Kong Traffic Injury Collision Database. 

In 2019, there was a research on pedestrian crossing and the presence of a bridge in Mong Kok which was conducted by Gianni Talamini, an associate professor of the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong.

Talamini found that the elderly usually avoid using the overpass and cross the road in unsuitable places to shorten the distance they need to walk. He said, “In that case, road design matters.” 

“Pedestrians’ needs for streets are still not being met in Hong Kong, such as bridges and tunnels increasing walking distances, crossings are located too far away, forcing pedestrians to choose to cross the street illegally,” said Yim.  

“Instead of relying on penalties alone to crack down on violations, the government should review the road design to tackle the problem at its root,” said Yim.

The government has taken some measures to proceed with various walkability enhancement and pedestrian safety improvement measures at suitable locations this year, which include setting up low-speed limit zones and setting diagonal crosswalks.

Lam Sai-hung, secretary for Transport and Logistics, said in a written reply: “These measures improve pedestrians’ walking experience on one hand and enhance road safety on the other.” 

Gary Yau, the president of the Road Research Society, a non-government organization that provides road information and knowledge to the public, took the low-speed limit zone in Sham Shui Po as an example. “The pedestrian flow is too much here, cars are inherently incapable of driving at high speeds, so setting up a low-speed zone can directly stop speeding from the legal level, reducing the risk of pedestrians being hit,” Yau said. 

In the Sham Shui Po market area, the total number of pedestrian-related crashes that occurred on this roadway between 2015 and 2019 reached 126, which is the second-highest crash-density area in Hong Kong, according to the Street Reset report.

However, Yim, who proposed that the Transport Department set the low-speed limit zone, thinks that the actual results did not meet his expectations.

“It's a good start to improve the pedestrian environment,” said Yim. “But the relevant road sections have not incorporated any road surface design such as narrowing the traffic lanes to encourage speed reduction.” 

“At night or during smooth traffic hours, there are still drivers who drive fast and are suspected to have failed to comply with the 30-kilometer speed limit,” said Yim. 

Yim now works as a transportation planner in the United Kingdom. Although not in Hong Kong, he recruited a group of people who were also interested in promoting pedestrian-oriented roads, hoping to shape better streets for Hong Kong with experience from around the world. 

While hoping to bring overseas experience into Hong Kong, Yim finds that improving road design faces a challenge.

“The most important thing that needs to be changed in Hong Kong is the old idea of focusing too much on vehicular traffic,” Yim said.

“An old mentality in Hong Kong is that cars are given priority. But if we look at New York and many cases around the world, priority is given to pedestrians,” said Talamini. 

“Hong Kong seems to not be open to changes, so we keep doing things the same way as we did many years ago,” added Talamini.

As of September, jaywalking in New York is not illegal as the New York City Council passed a bill to allow pedestrians to cross the street wherever they please.

“When we have a lot of interest in such a little space, then as the government, it's difficult to find a sort of solution to make everybody happy,” said Talamini.

“Car owners would not be happy with the change on the road, resulting in the government needing much more courage to go till the end and take responsibility over this transformation,” said Talamini.

Despite the difficulties of improving road design for pedestrianization, its benefits cannot be ignored.

“Streets are the only continuous network of public space in the city, they are important links between the community and the economy,” said Yim.

“If you have people who stay outdoors in these pedestrian spaces, they will have more willing to stop by a shop and consume there,” said Talamini.

Besides, Talamini said good pedestrianization encourages people to do more walking, which is extremely important to keep people healthy. “It also brings social interaction to people, avoiding struggling with mobile phones,” added Talamini.

Recognizing the benefits of road design for people, Yim and his friends published a position paper in 2023 for the future Traffic and Transport Strategy.

“The future road design should be more sensitive to the needs of the elderly and provide more convenient crossings, more tree shades and resting places, as well as improving air quality and reducing traffic noise,” said Yim. 

“The pedestrianization should be done starting from secondary streets, instead of from the center of the city where there is a lot of congestion, tension, and interest, but on certain outdoor areas, and do lots of new schemes there,” said Talamini.

“For instance, in the north of Metropolis, the government has a lot of opportunities to test new design solutions,” added Talamini. 

Talamini was born in Italy where he said nobody cares about when they cross. “If this public space will be pedestrianized, then the city will become much more attractive to me, to many, and Hong Kong will shine,” said Talamini.

“Reducing traffic light times when that crossing has little car traffic would be a big improvement for me, which will allow me to have a more leisurely lunch,” said Lau.