Controversy over Hong Kong’s mandatory seat belt rule has deepened after a former lawmaker said a government statement neglected to specify that the measure applied only to buses registered from January 25 this year, and urged authorities to clarify enforcement plans amid public concern about unwittingly breaking the law.
Doreen Kong Yuk-foon, a member of the subcommittee that examined the proposed legislative amendment last year, told the South China Morning Post on Friday that a government press release on January 8 had caused confusion by stating that passengers had to wear seat belts regardless of whether the vehicles were newly registered, contradicting what was written in the law.
She was referring to the new regulation that took effect on Sunday, which requires passengers on public buses to put on seat belts.
Kong said lawmakers who scrutinised the proposal last September had been told that the new rule would only apply to new vehicles registered on or after January 25 this year, and that the government’s January 8 press release had “wrongly interpreted” the law.
“The press release was wrong in saying that ‘drivers and passengers occupying the seats of these vehicles (whether newly registered or not), where seat belts are fitted, are required to wear them.’ It obviously does not match the clauses [in the law],” Kong said.
“People will have to ask those who wrote this press release why they did this. I do not understand.”
According to section 8AB under the Road Traffic (Safety Equipment) Regulations, buses newly registered on or after January 25, 2026, must install seat belts for passengers.
Section 8D specifies 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 seat belt, if any, provided for the seat”.
It remains uncertain how many public buses were newly registered since Sunday.
Kong said that the law had been widely misread and the government should clarify its terms as soon as possible.
“The government’s original aim is to target the buses first registered on or after January 25, 2026. The rule’s coverage was intended to be very limited,” she said.
Some residents have also questioned online how anyone could tell if a bus was newly registered.
She said the focus of the legislative debate at the time was not on seat belts, but on regulating mobile devices placed in front of drivers.
Her remarks were made hours after she clarified in a social media post that passengers would not be criminally liable if they did not wear seat belts on buses that were registered before January 25.
“I hope the government will clarify the provisions to avoid the public mistakenly believing that the penalties for not wearing seat belts apply to all buses under the newly revised provisions,” she wrote.
Kong said on Friday that the public had criticised lawmakers for not doing a good job of vetting the legislation and that a resident had even asked her to clarify the new rule.
“I do not want to embarrass the government; I just want to tell the truth to the public,” she said.
According to the paper submitted to the Legislative Council last September, authorities would require vehicles first registered on or after January 25, 2026, to be equipped with seat belts, including all passenger seats in public and private buses.
“Passengers occupying the above-mentioned seats, where seat belts are fitted, will be required to wear them starting from 25 January 2026,” the paper stated.
The subcommittee on the subsidiary legislation held just two meetings.
At the time, Principal Assistant Secretary for Transport and Logistics Cheng Sze-ling said the seat belt requirement would be extended to apply to the rear seats of private minibuses and buses registered on or after January 25, 2026.
No lawmakers at the meetings asked the government to confirm or clarify whether passengers on existing buses would also be required to put on seat belts.
Anyone convicted of breaching the law faces a maximum fine of HK$5,000 (US$640) and up to three months’ imprisonment.
SCMP has reached out to transport authorities and bus companies for comment.
Confusion over the new rule prompted some lawmakers to urge the government to review the legislation after six months, with the public struggling in the first week of implementation with poorly fitted restraints, hygiene issues and concerns that early unbuckling constituted a breach of the law.
The backlash prompted city leader John Lee Ka-chiu to call for patience on Tuesday, saying the initial stage of implementation would focus on public education and “fostering habits through persuasion”.
Public controversy erupted on Thursday after a 40-year-old man was unable to unfasten his seat belt while preparing to get off a bus, leaving him trapped for 45 minutes before he was freed by firefighters. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
