My letter to Ombudsman:
Dear Sir,
I write to complain concerning the Transport Department of the HKSAR, regarding its implementation and interpretation of CAP374A, with respect to type approval of vehicles in Hong Kong. Given the advances in technology, that legislation (and in particular regulation 37) has become ridiculously outdated. The Transport Department is selectively enforcing the regulations and demonstrating prejudice and bias against certain vehicle manufacturers.
Recent examples of this include:
* A failure to adequately respond to my enquiry regarding the Apple Carplay and Android Auto systems now sold in Hong Kong (copies of replies via 1823 attached). I asked a very simple question (have any such systems been approved in Hong Kong, and if not why are they on sale in the Hong Kong market), but have yet to receive a substantive reply.
* Action against Tesla Motors to remove the web browser functionality from Tesla Model S vehicles in Hong Kong since 2014, presumably due to regulation 37.
* Failure to approve the rear-facing seats in the Tesla Model S in 2014 and thereafter, presumably due to regulation 27, and failure to update the legislation to account for child seating.
* Without justification, imposing restrictions on the use of Auto-pilot technologies in Tesla Model S vehicles in Hong Kong in 2015, limiting it’s usefulness and increasing the danger to drivers using the system.
* Demanding that Tesla Motors remove the calendar functionality from Tesla Model S vehicles in Hong Kong just this week, presumably due to regulation 37.
To be clear, these technologies are in use in every country around the world today. It is only Hong Kong that is blocking their use. Such technologies, and others like them, strive to make vehicles safer, and the HKSAR Transport Department is holding them back for no good reason other than maladministration.
If the concern is driver distraction, I would suggest that Hong Kong already has plenty of legislation to address that problem, and the offences that derive from it. It is impossible to legislate against any and all sources of driver distraction, and folly to try. I would also suggest that if the HKSAR government really want to restrict every possible source of driver distraction, for the public good, then they restrict them only when the vehicle is in motion and otherwise permit them once the parking brake has been applied.
CAP374A regulation 37, in summary, concerns the installation of visual display units within view of the driver. It lists the permitted functions of such visual display units as:
(a) information about the current state of the vehicle or its equipment;
(b) the current closed-circuit view of any part of the vehicle or the area surrounding the vehicle;
(c) information about the current location of the vehicle; or
(d) any other information which is only for the purpose of navigating the vehicle.
I would content that the following functions are present in many vehicles on the roads of Hong Kong today, but are not permitted under CAP374A regulation 37:
* Time of day,
* Outside temperature,
* Weather icons or other indicators (such as frost, etc),
* Album artwork (from phone integration, USB stick, or otherwise),
* Mobile phone integration, in particular image/information of caller, and
* Audio selection and control.
And ask why the Transport Department is selectively enforcing CAP374A against some vehicle manufacturers, but not others.
Clearly the legislation in CAP374A, and in particular regulation 37, is out of date and unenforceable. It should have been updated years ago, to take advantage of improvements in technology. This has led to the ludicrous situation nowadays, whereby drivers are placing one or more removable cellphones or tablets, in mounts on the dashboard of their vehicles; due to limitations in the functionality of in-vehicle fixed displays. Systems such as Apple Carplay and Android Auto are specifically designed to avoid such distraction, and their approval in Hong Kong would avoid many such problems.
I ask that the Ombudsman intervene and demand that the Transport Department rectify it’s maladministration in this respect.
Sincerely,
Mark Webb-Johnson