A serious taxi accident occurred on Kwong Fuk Road in Tai Po on Sunday (22nd), resulting in 2 deaths and 8 injuries so far. A 63-year-old taxi driver was charged with one count of dangerous driving leading to death.
The problem of the taxi industry has attracted public attention again.
The taxi industry is not picking up, and the problem of aging drivers has been plagued for a long time.
According to the information submitted by the Hong Kong Government to the Legislative Council at the beginning of this year, the aging problem of taxi drivers has worsened in the past five years. Last year, licensed taxi drivers over 60 years old accounted for half of the total, and even more than 10% were 71 years old or above.
As for the number of traffic accidents involving taxis, according to the analysis of the Hong Kong Government, there were 2,320 accidents involving taxi drivers aged 55 or above last year, nearly double the number of accidents involving taxi drivers under 55.
▼8.22 Serious taxi accident on Kwong Fuk Road, Tai Po▼
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According to a document submitted by the Transport and Housing Bureau to the Legislative Council, in 2016, there were about 220,000 people holding a valid and newly-applied full taxi driver's license, of which about 38.5% were 61 years of age or older, and the proportion was increasing year by year.
As of 2020, the overall number of licensees has dropped by nearly 8% from 2016 to about 203,000. Half of them are 61 years old or above, and the 31-60 year old group has shown a downward trend.
The number of "brothers" aged 71 or above has more than doubled in five years
The aging of licensed taxi drivers has worsened. In 2016, the total number of licensed drivers aged 71 or above was 8,680, accounting for about 3.9% of the total number of licensed drivers. Only one new taxi driver's license was applied for that year; but By 2020, the number of licensed drivers in the 70-year-old or above age group has increased to 18,965, an increase of more than double, and the proportion of the total number of licensed drivers has increased to nearly 9.3%. Last year, drivers who were 71 or above newly applied for a license There are 4 more people.
Even if they are public light bus drivers, many of them are over 60 years old.
Last year, there were approximately 169,000 valid full driving license holders for public light buses, of which 59,487 (approximately 35.3%) and 17,476 (approximately 10.4%) and 1,510 (0.9%).
Taxi drivers over 55 have more accidents
Refer to the number of taxi traffic accidents, which reached 4,484 in 2019, but dropped to 3,613 last year, a decrease of about 20%.
However, if analyzed by the age of the drivers involved, the number of accidents involving drivers 55 years of age or above reached 2,320, which is about 80% more than the 1,293 cases involving drivers under 55.
The number of accidents involving taxis is also higher than that of franchised buses (1,471) and public light buses (658).
Most people complained about driver behavior and work performance
Taxi services in Hong Kong have been criticized for a long time. Last year, the Transport Complaints Unit under the Transport Advisory Committee received 17,622 complaints and suggestions on public transport services.
Among them, 5,355 complaints related to taxi services.
From January to March this year, there were 1,301 complaints and suggestions concerning taxi services.
Taking the first quarter of this year as an example, there were 516 complaints concerning driver behavior and work performance, among which nearly 90% were complaints about improper behavior and unruly behavior and refusal to drive. As for improper driving behavior and failure to use the most direct feasible route , Which also accounted for 342 and 270 cases respectively.
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