Hong Kong’s amended Road Traffic (Traffic Control) Regulations, which cap the number of mobile devices in a driver’s forward field of vision at two, came into force on Sunday – and enforcement started almost immediately at the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint, one of the city’s busiest land borders.
Plain-clothes officers posing as passengers flagged two taxis with four and five phones mounted on their dashboards, respectively. Both drivers now face summonses that carry fines of up to HK$2,000 and three demerit points. The crackdown is part of a broader push to reduce driver distraction as the taxi industry leans heavily on ride-hailing and navigation apps to compete for business.
Under the new rules, each device’s screen may not exceed 19 cm (7.5 inches) diagonally, a stipulation aimed at stopping drivers from replacing multiple phones with one oversized tablet. The Transport Department says it will grant a three-month grace period for education, but police retain discretion to prosecute flagrant breaches that pose immediate safety risks.
![Border spot-checks test Hong Kong taxi drivers as two-device dashboard rule kicks in]()
If you’re organizing a trip to Hong Kong—whether it’s a short business visit or a longer assignment—VisaHQ’s Hong Kong portal (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/) can streamline the paperwork, flag recent regulatory changes like the two-device taxi rule, and deliver real-time alerts so your travelers arrive informed and compliant.
For arriving business travellers, the regulation should translate into cleaner lines-of-sight and fewer “gadget-heavy” dashboards in red-and-silver city cabs. Corporate security teams may wish to brief assignees and visitors on possible longer waits at peak times as drivers adapt and retrofit their vehicles. Mobility managers arranging cross-boundary transfers should also confirm that contracted taxi fleets are compliant to avoid fines or service interruptions.
Industry bodies representing Hong Kong’s 18,000 licensed taxis have asked regulators to clarify whether head-up displays that mirror multiple apps onto a single screen will count toward the two-device limit, warning that ambiguity could force costly hardware changes.
Plain-clothes officers posing as passengers flagged two taxis with four and five phones mounted on their dashboards, respectively. Both drivers now face summonses that carry fines of up to HK$2,000 and three demerit points. The crackdown is part of a broader push to reduce driver distraction as the taxi industry leans heavily on ride-hailing and navigation apps to compete for business.
Under the new rules, each device’s screen may not exceed 19 cm (7.5 inches) diagonally, a stipulation aimed at stopping drivers from replacing multiple phones with one oversized tablet. The Transport Department says it will grant a three-month grace period for education, but police retain discretion to prosecute flagrant breaches that pose immediate safety risks.
If you’re organizing a trip to Hong Kong—whether it’s a short business visit or a longer assignment—VisaHQ’s Hong Kong portal (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/) can streamline the paperwork, flag recent regulatory changes like the two-device taxi rule, and deliver real-time alerts so your travelers arrive informed and compliant.
For arriving business travellers, the regulation should translate into cleaner lines-of-sight and fewer “gadget-heavy” dashboards in red-and-silver city cabs. Corporate security teams may wish to brief assignees and visitors on possible longer waits at peak times as drivers adapt and retrofit their vehicles. Mobility managers arranging cross-boundary transfers should also confirm that contracted taxi fleets are compliant to avoid fines or service interruptions.
Industry bodies representing Hong Kong’s 18,000 licensed taxis have asked regulators to clarify whether head-up displays that mirror multiple apps onto a single screen will count toward the two-device limit, warning that ambiguity could force costly hardware changes.
