Will it take deaths on Route Twisk to bring road racers to book?
Jason Wordie's comments on the motorcycle road races held on Route Twisk on weekends in his Out and About column (September 20) resonated with me, as I am sure they did with many others.
As a regular weekend hiker in the Shek Kong/Tai Mo Shan area for many years, I have been sadly familiar for a long time with the situation he outlined - as must any other frequent motorist or hiker to the vicinity.
I can also verify that the situation has got steadily worse over the past decade.
Motorbike time trialling and road racing along Route Twisk is so blatant, and has gone on for such a long time with obvious impunity, that it raises disturbing questions about the routine police inaction about this matter.
I would like to know why this is the case. Is it down to police incompetence?
As Wordie sharply observes, back in the 'bad old days', the Royal Military Police 'who had control over Route Twisk's lower section' would have eliminated this situation within a single afternoon.
As I returned from a hike a few weekends ago, the No 51 bus over Route Twisk was overtaken not once, but several times, over double white lines around blind bends at high speed by these high-powered idiots.
This is far from the first time I have observed their dangerous, adolescent antics.
The unfortunate bus drivers, who no doubt would corroborate my observations, have to endanger their lives every weekend due to these hoodlums.
This testosterone-fuelled thrill-seeking will inevitably result in serious injury or death.
As repeated evidence makes wearily clear in Hong Kong, completely preventable tragedies are usually required to generate any semblance of an effective official response.
Fatal, completely preventable, minibus crashes are the obvious analogy.
I look forward to reading a thorough - and serious - response in these columns, after the relevant authorities have investigated this matter further.
David Ollerearnshaw, Yuen Long
