The general speed limit in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

is 50 km/h, which applies to all roads unless signed otherwise. At present, the 50 km/h limit mostly applies to urban roads and other non-arterial roads in the

New Territories The New Territories (N.T., Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: ) is one of the three areas of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of H ...

. Some mountain roads, most notably on

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao or Lan Tau) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the ...

, have a lower 30 km/h limit. Most urban trunk, distributor and peripheral roads as well as many rural carriageways with higher traffic flow and length have a standard speed limit of 70 km/h, such as

Clear Water Bay Road Clear Water Bay Road () is a major road from Choi Hung Interchange in Ngau Chi Wan to Clear Water Bay, Sai Kung District. It also is a route to Sai Kung Town and Tseung Kwan O via Hiram's Highway and Hang Hau Road / Ying Yip Road respective ...

. Newly constructed roads of this category have an 80 km/h limit such as

Heung Yuen Wai Highway Heung Yuen Wai Highway, also abbreviated as HYWH, () is a controlled-access highway in North District, New Territories, Hong Kong. It diverges from Fanling Highway of Route 9 at Kau Lung Hang, crosses Sha Tau Kok Road and connects to Heung Yuen ...

. Most urban expressways in Hong Kong have a speed limit of 70 km/h or 80 km/h, while in the

and for the West Kowloon Highway a higher limit of 100 km/h is used. The speed limit of the

North Lantau Highway North Lantau Highway is an expressway forming part of Hong Kong's Route 8, linking Hong Kong International Airport and Lantau Island with the rest of the territory. The road has three lanes in each direction for its entire length with fu ...

is 110 km/h, which is the highest speed limit in Hong Kong.

Justifications

The Hong Kong government has stated that road safety is of primary concern when setting speed limits. Nonetheless, the government also weighs in road design, location and purpose in setting speed limits to minimise confusion and discourage speeding. Speed limits are divided into a three-band system that aims to set limits in a consistent manner based on a few key characteristics, with only minor variation within each band. The low band of 50 km/h is intended to apply to built-up areas regardless of location. The middle band is intended for areas outside urban or new town built-up areas and imposes 70 or 80 km/h limits. In practice, however, these limits have been adjusted relatively frequently due to the construction of new roads and increasing urbanisation in the

. In the 1980s, most rural carriageways had a speed limit of 70 km/h, but many have since been reduced to 50 km/h in light of the increased development and the diversion of traffic to high-standard expressways. At the same time, a higher speed limit of 80 km/h has become standard for newly constructed trunk routes. The high band of 100 or 110 km/h applies to high-standard expressways and is the current design standard adopted for new expressways in the New Territories.

Enforcement

The speed limit for buses, medium and heavy goods vehicles is 70 km/h for all roads with a general speed limit at or above 70 km/h. A speeding offence under 10 km/h over the speed limit is not enforced; many drivers in Hong Kong travel within this range.

References

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL PANEL ON TRANSPORT Speed Limit in Hong Kong
{{Asia topic, Speed limits in

Road transport in Hong Kong

Justifications

Enforcement

See also

References