Community Issues

Speed Demons (06 September)
 

Exactly one year ago Explore reported the fears of the boating community that further deaths would occur, caused by the heavy traffic and dangerous speeds of boats in the waters around Sai Kung (Cut-Out Safety Vol.1, no.1, September 2005).  The then Division Commander of HK Police - Marine East HK (MP), Alasdair Watson, explained the slightly blurred division of responsibilities between the MP and the Marine Department (MD). The MD’s responsibility is maintaining safety on the waters while their main responsibilities are crime (smuggling, theft, etc.) and enforcing safety.   The Commander explained the difficulty that officers have in proving unsafe boat handling – it requires witnesses to testify in court and very few are prepared to do so.

 

However, Sai Kung Association member, Charles Frew has told Explore that he was quite willing to testify against wakeboarding boats that he saw speeding up the mouth of the river at Wong Keng Tei (near Pak Tam Chung) at high tide. The estuary is a popular place for local residents to swim and is also an ecologically sensitive area.  This was on the 11th of August, one week before a speedboat struck and killed a man in Clearwater Bay.

 

Mr. Frew contacted the Marine Police, who arrived 15 minutes after his call.  Despite the fact that one of the three boats obviously knew they were in the wrong (they sped away and tried to hide behind the island) they were all let off with just a verbal warning.

 

“How many verbal warnings does it take”, Mr. Frew asks, “for a fine or other more significant deterrent?”  He stated that at no time was he asked if he would agree to stand as a witness against the speeders.

 

Explore has learned from other sources that the Marine Police have given smuggling a much higher priority than safety on the waters around Sai Kung for their very stretched manpower.   

How many human deaths have to occur before dangerous speeding is given higher priority?