Police launch 3-week crackdown on distracted driving and pedestrian offences amid surge in road deaths

The Hong Kong police are carrying out a large-scale enforcement operation against distracted driving and pedestrian offences amid a surge of fatal road accidents during the first half of the year. The police said at a Wednesday press conference that a three-week crackdown on traffic offences, which began on Monday, is targeting the primary causes of fatal traffic accidents. Vehicles in Hong Kong. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. While the total number of traffic accidents declined in the first half of 2026, more people died on the roads compared to the same period last year, according to police figures. Sixty-three people died in 59 traffic accidents during the first six months of this year – a 46.5 per cent surge in fatalities compared to the 43 deaths in 41 fatal accidents during the same period last year. Among the 63 deaths, 41 per cent were pedestrians. The remaining were drivers, passengers, motorcyclists and cyclists. “Data analysis shows that the primary causes of fatal traffic accidents were jaywalking by pedestrians and distracted driving by drivers,” Avina Lai, superintendent of the Police Traffic Branch, said at the press conference in Cantonese. Photo: HKFP/Catherine Lai. The police will focus on publicity and educational work for the first week. In the second and third weeks, large-scale enforcement operations will be conducted. Roadblocks will be set up for stop-and-search checks and unmarked police cars will be deployed, Lai said. Overall accidents drop The police said at the press conference that the first half of 2026 saw a total of 8,860 traffic accidents that resulted in injuries – a 17 per cent drop compared to the same period last year. Of those accidents, 11,317 people sustained injuries – a 20 per cent drop compared to the first six months of 2025. The police said that road users – especially pedestrians and commercial vehicle drivers – should remain focused, cautious, and law-abiding at all times. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing. More by Irene Chan