Requiring Motorists to Switch off Vehicle Engines While Waiting (19 October 2006)

MR JAMES TIEN (in Cantonese): Madam President, in May 2000, the Legislative Council All Party Clean Air Alliance (the Alliance) proposed to legislate to require motorists to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting. However, the Government did not accept the proposal, only indicating that it would organize publicity and educational activities to advise motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the number of complaints received by the relevant authorities in each of the past three years about motorists not switching off vehicle engines while waiting, together with a breakdown by class of vehicles;

(b) of the number of times staff of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) carried out operations in the past three years to advise motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting at the roadside, the total number of working hours spent on these operations, the total number of such advice given, and the percentage of motorists who heeded such advice by switching off vehicle engines immediately; and

(c) whether it has assessed the overall effectiveness of such publicity and educational activities in promoting compliance by motorists of vehicles of various categories; if so, of the criteria adopted for assessment and how the assessment results compare to the intended effects of such activities; whether it will reconsider legislating to require motorists to switch off vehicle engines while waiting?

SECRETARY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND WORKS (in Cantonese): Madam President,

(a) The Government is very concerned about the air quality in Hong Kong. We will strongly support and seriously consider the implementation of any useful measures that can improve the local air quality. During 2000-01, the Government had conducted a series of consultation on the proposal put forward by the Alliance in May 2000 to introduce legislation to require motorists to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting, and it had been put up to the Legislative Council for discussion. We have consulted the 18 District Councils (DCs) and the transport trade associations, and discussions had been held in the relevant Legislative Council panels. However, all of them have divergent views. Therefore, after consolidating the views received, we decided to draw up guidelines and join effort with the transport trade associations to appeal to drivers to reduce the nuisance caused to pedestrians and residents by idling engines. The consultation results and the proposal were reported to the Legislative Council Panel on Environmental Affairs on 27 February 2001. The Chief Executive's policy address this year has reiterated that the Government would issue guidelines to all government vehicle drivers to switch off vehicle engines while
waiting and call upon private car drivers to adopt the same self-discipline.

In 2002, 2003 and 2004, the EPD received 238, 236 and 296 complaints against idling engines respectively. A breakdown of the complaints by vehicle types is in the Annex.

(b) In 2002, 2003 and 2004, the EPD carried out 260 (528 man-hours), 267 (534 man-hours) and 366 (732 man-hours) operations respectively to advise drivers to switch off the engines of their vehicles while waiting at the roadside. During these operations, the EPD staff gave advice to all drivers who failed to switch off the engines while waiting. According to the EPD's records, only a very small number of drivers disregarded the advice. Most of them would switch off the engines or drive away immediately. The advisory approach adopted by the EPD in dealing with complaints about idling engines is quite successful. In the 770 complaint cases handled in the past three years, 77% (593 cases) did
not attract further complaints from the complainants.

If the idling vehicle belongs to a company fleet operator, the EPD staff will issue an advisory letter to remind the management of the company to instruct its staff to switch off vehicle engines while waiting.

(c) Since September 2001, the Government has been actively organizing promotional and educational activities on "No idling engines". The number of complaints received by the EPD was 285 in 2001, 238 in 2002 and 236 in 2003. The number of complaints received in 2004 increased to 296 because the number of complaints against tour coaches in 2004 was 56 more than that in 2003. We believe that the significant increase was due to the strong growth of
the local tourist industry.

To tackle the idling engine problem of tourist coaches, we, together with Hong Kong Tourism Board, Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, Tourism Commission and Transport Department (TD) have strengthened our publicity campaign of "No idling engines" in 2004 for the tourist industry and prepared guidelines targeted specifically at the tourist industry. The EPD has also requested the Tourism Commission to issue a special circular to the tourist industry shortly before peak tour seasons to remind tourist coach drivers to switch off vehicle engines while waiting.

As I said earlier, of the 770 complaints received by the EPD in the past three years, 77% (593) did not attract further complaints from the complainants. Moreover, the TD will issue warning letters to the public transport operators (for example, franchised buses and public light buses) if their vehicles are under complaint, asking for compliance with the "No idling engines" guidelines. According to the TD's records, of the 61 routes against which a warning had been
issued in the past three years, 55 routes did not attract further complaints. As such, we consider the approach of advising drivers to switch off the engines while waiting through education and publicity effective.

The Government will continue to appeal to drivers to exercise self-discipline through promotional and educational activities.

Annex

The Number of Complaints Against Idling Vehicles

Received by the EPD
Vehicle Class 2002 2003 2004
Non franchised buses 65 73 123
Public light buses 62 49 64
Goods vehicles 47 45 57
Franchised buses 18 7 8
Taxis 9 5 7
Private cars 9 6 6
Government vehicles 2 4 3
Other types of vehicles 26 47 28

MR JAMES TIEN (in Cantonese): Madam President, as seen from the roads and as shown in the figures provided in the paper, promotional and educational activities did not prove effective. Why do I say so? Judging from the figures,
who would believe that there should only be two complaints of idling engines involving government vehicles in a year? If this is the case, the Chief Executive would not have found it necessary to issue guidelines requiring government
vehicles to switch off engines while waiting. I believe that the number of complaints against vehicles prefixed with AM on their number plates parking in front of the Legislative Council alone should have been more than two in a year.
Madam President, I now raise my supplementary question. I wish to ask whether the Government is willing to legislate on this issue. The Secretary has indicated in her main reply that the 18 DCs and the transport trade had been consulted in 2000, however, no legislation has been introduced in the face of divergent views between the DCs and the transport trade. It is now 2005 and the problem has yet to be resolved. Will the Government reconsider introducing
legislation and consulting the 18 DCs and the transport trade associations once again?

SECRETARY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND WORKS (in Cantonese): Madam President, I strongly agree to Mr James TIEN's remarks. Our society is ever-changing and public awareness of environmental protection has been on the increase, and members of the public are having stronger request for legislative control pertaining to environmentally friendly behaviour. I believe that in due course, it is necessary for us to conduct another detailed consultation with the industry, and the community can also examine, through DCs or other channels, whether legislative means would receive common consent. According to overseas experience, legislation may not be a
means that would attain very high effect. First of all, in northern countries such as Canada, exemption will be granted when the weather is hot, which means that it all depends on the prevailing weather. While people are allowed to switch on their heaters when it is very cold, exemption will be granted when it is very hot, say, 27 degrees Celsius. However, if exemption is granted whenever the ambient temperature in Hong Kong is at 27 degrees Celsius, the exemption
period will be too long and with just too little success, because the period during which the ambient temperature in Hong Kong is at 27 degrees Celsius is rather long.

Furthermore, the experience gained from the last consultation tells us that Honourable Members also considered that exemption should be granted to many industries. All vehicles belonging to the transport trade wish to be exempted,
which will render the majority of the vehicles being exempted, leaving only private vehicles being subject to control. This approach cannot achieve the best result, and may even send a wrong message that some people can pollute the
environment while some cannot, and some may even be penalized. On the whole, I consider that the public should receive a clearer message, that is, everyone should switch off their vehicle engines while waiting. We have thus
carried out many promotional activities since 2001 — large-scale promotional activities had been launched in each of the past five years. Switching off idling engines has been regarded as a major area of concern of this year's World
Environment Day, and one large-scale activity has been jointly organized with the business sector in the society, schools and other organizations.

Furthermore, we have continuously organized promotional activities at schools and appealed to motorists in various locations. When considering the introduction of legislation, we must also adopt an approach conducive to social action, thereby promoting something worthwhile for everyone to do. Many Honourable Members may not agree to the
introduction of legislation in view of the aspirations of their own trade, but they will still earnestly practise what they preach by switching off idling engines. I think that one important message is that we should not categorize people into
those who can be absolved from their responsibilities and those who should be held responsible.

MR JAMES TIEN (in Cantonese): Madam President, the Secretary did not answer the part of the supplementary question on the issue of guidelines by the Chief Executive to government drivers. In this year's policy address, the Chief Executive mentioned that the Government would issue guidelines to all government vehicles — sorry, Madam President, the guidelines referred to in the first paragraph of part (a) of the main reply — when will such guidelines be
issued to government vehicles?

PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr James TIEN, is this a part of the supplementary question you asked earlier?

MR JAMES TIEN (in Cantonese): Sure, I mentioned earlier that the Chief Executive has also faced this issue squarely. If there were only two government vehicles which did not switch off idling engines in a year, the Chief Executive
would not have raised the issue. There must be some reasons for him to bring it up. May I ask when it will be tackled?

SECRETARY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND WORKS (in Cantonese): Following the delivery of the policy address on 12 October, the relevant guidelines were issued on 14 October 2005. All government drivers are required to read the guidelines every six months. More importantly, if any such case is substantiated, the driver concerned will be subject to disciplinary action.