Govt to remove legal clauses on seatbelt rule

Transport secretary Mable Chan on Friday announced that the government would remove legal provisions requiring bus passengers to put on seatbelts. She acknowledged there were shortcomings in the law, saying that it was unable to reflect the intent of implementing the rule. “We will arrange as soon as possible the removal of relevant clauses. This means that right now, there are no legal requirements that franchised and non-franchised bus passengers [must] wear seatbelts,” Chan said. “We will improve the legal clauses, consult lawmakers and then roll out [legal amendments] again.” The minister did not offer a timetable on the next steps. She noted there were many opinions regarding the seatbelt rule, adding that the “responsible way” to respond was to provide clarification on the matter as soon as possible. Earlier, former lawmaker Doreen Kong argued that the written law only applied to new buses registered from January 25 this year. According to Section 8AB under the Road Traffic (Safety Equipment) Regulations, buses newly registered on or after January 25 this year must install seatbelts for all seated passengers. Section 8D stipulates that “a person must not ride as a passenger in a passenger’s seat of a bus to which regulation 8AB applies on any road, unless the person is securely fastened to the seat by means of a seatbelt, if any, provided for the seat”.