Trial for new signs to help motorists

The Transport Department has started a trial scheme to help motorists who need to stop for assistance while driving on a expressway.

The department has erected new chainage marker signs along a seven-kilometre stretch of the Fanling Section of Route One between Nam Wan Po and Kwu Tung. The new signs, which are bigger and more colourful, will allow motorists to give a more accurate report of their location.

The signs have been erected parallel to traffic at 100-metre intervals and, unlike the old ones, face the traffic at one-kilometre intervals. Hence, motorists will find the bigger signs facing them easier to read.

From the signs, motorists can ascertain the numbering, traffic direction and the length of the route along which their vehicles are located. This data not only helps motorists report their location when their vehicles break down, but also helps police vehicles, fire engines and ambulances arrive at accident scenes more promptly.

The trial scheme will end in June 2003. Upon satisfactory results of the trial, the department will install the new signs on all new expressways.

No extra cost will be incurred by the installation of the improved signs. The old signs along the current expressways will only be replaced when they reach the end of their lives, from three to five years.

There are about 5,000 chainage marker signs installed along expressways territory-wide with a total length of 111 kilometres.

End/Friday, April 18, 2003