Bus passengers must wear seat belts and drivers must not use more than two mobile devices while driving from 25 January 2026

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The Transport Department (TD) recently reminded members of the public that, starting from 25 January 2026, all public transport and commercial vehicles’ seated passengers must wear seat belts. From the same day onwards, all drivers must not use more than two mobile telecommunications devices (MTDs) during driving. Both new requirements aim to further enhance road, passenger and driving safety.

(1) Extending requirements for mandatory fitting and wearing of seat belts

All passenger’s seats in public and private buses (including franchised buses and student service vehicles (SSVs)); rear passenger’s seats in private light buses (including school service vehicles or SSVs) and goods vehicles (GVs); and driver’s seats and all passenger’s seats of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) must be equipped with seat belts for these vehicles first registered from 25 January 2026. Passengers occupying the seats of these vehicles (whether newly registered or not), where seat belts are fitted, will be required to wear them. Any vehicle owner, driver or passenger breaching the seat belt-fitting or wearing requirements will be liable to a maximum fine of $5,000 and imprisonment for up to three months.

From the same date any driver who still operates the vehicle with a passenger aged under 15 seated in the rear seat of a GV or the passenger’s seat of an SPV without wearing a seat belt will be subject to a maximum fine of $2,000. All passengers seated in the seats shall be responsible for wearing the seat belts.

Also to strike a balance between enhancing protection for students and addressing the trade’s operational needs, existing SSVs must retrofit seat belts and safer seats on all passenger seats before 31 December2028. Vehicles failing to meet such requirement will no longer be permitted to carry students. As for franchised buses, all newly procured buses have been equipped with seat belts on every seat since July 2018 and operators have retrofitted seat belts on all upper deck seats of about 1,900 existing buses.

A spokesman for the TD said, “Wearing seat belts offers effective protection to passengers in an accident. Studies show that it will reduce the risk of death and serious injury of drivers and passengers in head-on collisions by about 40 per cent and 70 per cent respectively. Further, the full implementation of the fitting of seat belts in SSVs helps cultivate the habit of wearing seat belts from an early age, thereby strengthening students’ awareness of road safety.”

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(2) Tightening use of MTDs during driving

Balancing considerations including the transport trades’ needs and technological advancements, from 25 January 2026, any driver must not place more than two MTDs (i.e. mobile phones, tablet computers or laptop computers) in front of them during driving. The diagonal length of their screen must not exceed 19 centimetres. The MTDs must not obstruct the driver’s view of the road and traffic as well as any mirror, device or camera-monitor fitted for viewing the roads.

Drivers contravening the new requirements may be liable to a maximum fine of $2,000, the spokesman added.