The Hong Kong police are carrying out a large-scale enforcement operation against distracted driving and pedestrian offences amid a surge of fatal road accidents during the first half of the year. The police said at a Wednesday press conference that a three-week crackdown on traffic offences, which began on Monday, is targeting the primary causes of fatal traffic accidents. Sixty-three people died in 59 traffic accidents during the first six months of this year – a 46.5 per cent surge in fatalities compared to the 43 deaths in 41 fatal accidents during the same period last year. “Data analysis shows that the primary causes of fatal traffic accidents were jaywalking by pedestrians and distracted driving by drivers,” Avina Lai, superintendent of the Police Traffic Branch, said at the press conference in Cantonese. Of those accidents, 11,317 people sustained injuries – a 20 per cent drop compared to the first six months of 2025.