R. v. KU NGAI YUNG, OTIS

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF HONG KONG

(Appellate Jurisdiction)

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 1071 OF 1995

___________

________________

J U D G M E N T

_________________

1. This was an appeal against an order of disqualification in accordance with s.8 of theRoad Traffic (Driving Offence Points) Ordinance, Cap.375. As a result of four traffic offences committed between 29th December 1993 and 6th August 1995, the appellant had accumulated 16 driving offence points and was therefore liable to be disqualified from holding and obtaining a driving licence in accordance with s.8 of Cap.375.

2. The appellant appeared before the learned magistrate on 27th October of this year and relying upon s.8(3), asked the learned magistrate not to disqualify him as there were special reasons for not doing so. These special reasons, he submitted, related to an offence of speeding on 11th December 1994. For that offence he accumulated three points. He testified before the learned magistrate that while driving his girlfriend, now wife, to Taipo Country Park she became ill, vomitted and experienced palpitations. She was, he said, also showing signs of fainting. This was about 11 a.m. on that day, and on seeing the condition of his girlfriend, the defendant drove faster in order to get quickly to the Baptist Hospital in Kowloon Tong where his girlfriend could get some treatment. He was stopped at a road-block for speeding and hence the fixed penalty points.

3. The learned magistrate said this in his Reasons for Verdict :

" According to the evidence of the defendant, both he and his ex-girl friend suspected that she was pregnant at the time of the offence. Although she was not feeling well and vomitted, it was clearly not an emergency. Emergency means a situation especially of danger that arises unexpectedly and requires urgent action. (Oxford Dictionary) The defendant's girl friend was not suffering from any acute illness so there was no necessity for the defendant to drive in excess of the speed limit. In fact what the defendant should have done at that time was to slow down and find a place to stop so that she could take a rest instead of driving on in excess of speed limit."

4. Having given this matter careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that I agreed with the learned magistrate. The natural and sensible thing for the appellant to have done in the circumstances was to have stopped his car and given his girlfriend time to recover. Only then, if she had shown continued signs of real distress, could he justifiably have described the circumstances as an emergency. Indeed, when he was stopped at the road-block by the police, if indeed there was a medical emergency the police would no doubt have taken a hand in the matter. There was no evidence from the appellant that his girlfirend's condition was brought to the attention of the police, or was such that the police officers noticed it.

5. I agree therefore, with the learned magistrate that there were no special circumstances in this case which should have persuaded him to exercise his discretion not to disqualify the appellant or to shorten the disqualification period. The appeal was dismissed.