e-Bulletin for Parents - 2 January 2026

Public transport and commercial vehicle seated passengers must wear seat belts and drivers must not use more than two mobile telecommunications devices while driving from January 25

In order to further enhance road, passenger and driving safety, the Government today (January 2) reminded members of the public that, starting from January 25, 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.

(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 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 January 25.

From the same day, 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. Of note, 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.

In addition, 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 December 31, 2028. From that day onwards, vehicles failing to meet such requirement will no longer be permitted to carry students. 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.

(2) Tightening use of MTDs during driving

From January 25, 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.

Members of the public may refer to the TD's webpage on seat belts (www.td.gov.hk/en/road_safety/sb) and the use of MTDs during driving (www.td.gov.hk/en/road_safety/mtd) or the Agent T Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AgentT.hk), or call the hotline 2804 2600 for details.