Police hunt for elderly man seen riding wheelchair down middle of busy Hong Kong highway
- Calls from concerned residents poured in just before 11am, only hours after police found an 85-year-old man on the West Kowloon Highway
- As of 1.30pm, officers were still hunting for the man; a spokesman said it was not yet known if the same man was involved in both incidents
Hong Kong police are searching for an elderly man in an electric wheelchair who was spotted travelling about 1.5km down the middle of a busy highway late Monday morning, one of two such incidents in the span of just five hours.
Officers were called when the man, thought to be about 80 years old, was seen riding a wheelchair in the middle lane of three-lane Ching Cheung Road in the direction of Tsuen Wan shortly before 11am.
In a video posted online, the man can be seen travelling behind a taxi in the outer lane of the road near the centre divider, forcing the driver of a delivery van behind him to slow down to avoid hitting him.
According to police, the man was first seen at the junction of Nam Cheong Street and Lung Cheung Road in Sham Shui Po.
Minutes later, passing motorists called police to say he was in the Tsuen Wan-bound lane of Ching Cheung Road near Caritas Medical Centre in Cheung Sha Wan. The two sites are about 1.5km apart.
A police spokesman said officers were dispatched to the scene after receiving a number of calls.
He said police scouted along Ching Cheung Road and nearby areas, but found no trace of the man, and officers were still searching for him as of 1.30pm.
Driving an electric mobility device on a road without a vehicle registration licence is in violation of the Road Traffic Ordinance – an offence that carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a HK$10,000 fine, according to the force.
Driving an electric mobility device on a road without third-party insurance, meanwhile, carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison and a HK$10,000 fine.
A police spokesman added that riding or driving recklessly or negligently in a public place or in a dangerous manner carries a maximum penalty of three months in jail or a HK$500 fine.”
Only hours earlier, at around 6.18am, police had been called to the West Kowloon Highway in Yau Ma Tei, where an 85-year-old man was found riding his electric wheelchair.
The elderly man, who was uninjured, told officers that he rode his wheelchair onto the highway by mistake.
He was then led to safety and no arrest was made, according to the force.
The spokesman said it was not yet known if the two cases involved the same man.
