Newsletter No. 36

CUHK Newsletter No.36 November 1992 label, so that the owner can use the same label for several cars. • Two carparks near the train station have been reserved for staff and students. Are there any more reserved carparks on the campus? • Yes. The carparks in the Lady Shaw Building, the K. K. Leung Building and the new library extension have been designated for the use of staff members only. And overnight parking is strictly forbidden in these three carparks, irrespective of what kind of parking label you have. • What happens when a car owner or driver violates any of these regulations? • His car will be impounded. Of course if the situation allows we will give him warning first and ask him to drive the car away. I would also like to take this opportunity to call upon members of the University to liaise with us in advance if they are expecting important guests. This w i l l help avoid an embarrassing situation if they inadvertently park their cars in our reserved carparks and we impound them. • Since parking space is inadequate, is illegal parking common? Are there spots where parking is strictly prohibited? • Illegal parking is a serious problem here. We have painted yellow lines in 11 places on the campus to alert drivers that parking in those areas is strictly forbidden. • And when you find cars parked in such areas, what action will you take? • It all depends on the circumstances. We may only issue a warning letter; we may want to locate the owner as quickly as possible so that he can remove his car; we may im- pound the vehicle if the driver has been warned before or if the vehicle causes a traffic jam and poses danger to pedestrians. • We notice that warnings are issued to illegally parked cars in some areas but not in others. Why the difference in treatment? • Along major roads such as Central Avenue, University Road, Chung Chi Road, Station Road, United Road, New Asia Circle, and Residence Road, we have to make sure that the flow of traffic will not be adversely affected by illegally parked cars and will therefore takemore stringent measures. In other more remote locations where illegal parking is less likely to cause a traffic accident, and where no objection is received from people at nearby offices, we tend to be more lenient. • Security guards are after all not policemen. How then can you penalize those who frequently violate traffic regulations on the campus? • Indeed the severest penalty we can mete out is impounding cars and levying fines on the owners. But we also keep a computer record of the offenders and their licence numbers, and check our records from time to time. If we identify a frequent offender, we shall first send him a letter requesting his cooperation in future. If cooperation doesn't seem to be forthcoming, an assistant security officer will pay him a home visit and try the method of friendly persuasion. On the rare occasion when the offender is still uncooperati we shall nullify his vehicle registration label. For more serious offences such as reckless, dangerous or unlicensed driving, we notify the police to prosecute the drivers concerned. A ll campus roads are subject to the government's Road Traffic Ordinance andRegulations, and drivers have to bear legal responsibilities for their wrongdoings. The University may also ban the vehicles of such offenders from entering the campus. But generally speaking, members of this university drive with care and restraint, and we have very few accidents on campus roads. • I gather that the University community is generally pleased with the current state of affairs as far as campus security and traffic is concerned. Can you tell us how you manage the Security Unit? • Thank you for your compliments. I have asked each staff member of our unit to adopt these as our objectives: To work with enthusiasm, To serve with courteousness. To be impartial in our decision-making, To safeguard our unit and our patrons. Of course we need the cooperation of our patrons, i.e. all members of the University community, in order to maintain law and order, and to make the campus apleasant place to live and work in. An illegally-parked car being impounded. 8