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The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (February 21) invited members of the public to visit the latest round of the outdoor roving exhibition on the Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance now being held at Shatin Town Hall Plaza. The exhibition will be moved to Wong Tai Sin Square next month (March).
Details of the two exhibitions are as follows:
Date Venue Time
---- ----- ----
Now until Shatin Town Hall 11am to 6pm
February 24 Plaza (February 21)
9am to 6pm
(February 22 and 23)
9am to 4pm
(February 24)
March 14 to Wong Tai Sin Noon to 8pm
17 Square (March 14 to 16)
10am to 6pm
(March 17)
The EPD will continue to hold the exhibition across Hong Kong starting from this month (February) with the aim of enhancing public awareness of the idling engine ban and promoting the green driving habit. The prohibition helps reduce the environmental nuisance caused by stationary vehicles with running engines and improve roadside air quality.
A spokesman for the EPD said, "Since the implementation of the Ordinance in December 2011, the Government has mounted enforcement actions and publicity activities to urge drivers to comply with the idling engine ban and help them foster the habit of switching off engines. Traffic wardens will take enforcement action against drivers contravening the law during their patrol duty, whereas the EPD will co-ordinate publicity-cum-enforcement operations at black spots where idling engines are common."
As at early February this year, the EPD had conducted some 440 publicity-cum-enforcement operations. Meanwhile, law enforcement staff, including Environmental Protection Inspectors and Traffic Wardens, have so far timed some 1,350 vehicles with idling engines and issued Penalty Notices to nine drivers who failed to switch off their engines within three minutes.
"We notice that drivers have now paid much more attention to switching off the idling engines of stationary vehicles. We will carry on our efforts to remind drivers of the idling engine ban by distributing leaflets on the streets, staging outdoor roving exhibitions and mounting publicity through various platforms while undertaking law enforcement," the spokesman added.
The Ordinance, which came into effect on December 15, 2011, prohibits drivers from idling a vehicle engine for more than three minutes in any 60-minute period. Law enforcement staff will issue a Penalty Notice to drivers contravening the law, and a fine of $320 will be imposed. This law is in force all year round on all roads including private roads and car parks.
For more details of the Ordinance, please visit the EPD's website
(www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/prob_solutions/idling_prohibition.html), call the enquiry hotline 2838 3111 or email idlingenq@epd.gov.hk.
Ends/Thursday, February 21, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:26
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