HKP Traffic Branch Motorcycle & Inspector's Summer Uniform - 1966

Wed, 05/08/2019 - 11:25

Photo showing  HKP - Traffic Branch inspector's summer uniform and standard police traffic patrol motorcycle used from the mid 1960s to 1970s. This was  a twin-cylinder 350cc Triumph model 3TA,  produced in 1966  according to 'TST Dave' in a gwulo discussion HERE . A "Pye - Cambridge" brand two-way radio, designed for motorcycles, was mounted on a rack at the back in the position where the pillion seat would located be on a civilian version of this model. 

Photo of "Chinarail" on bike taken in 1966 at Wong Tai Sin police station  

Date picture taken
1 Aug 1966
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Yes, not very comfortable on one's bare knees............... and I cannot remember the number times I burned my inner thighs on the exhaust manifolds if the front of the bike slipped sideways, as the front wheel was wont to do when braking on wet days. On Nathan Road the smooth white-painted road  and lane markings were always heavily covered in leaking oil from badly maintained vehices and these became like an ice skating rink surface when it rained. I rarely dared to use the front brake. 

I exaggerate not,  when I tell you that on one occasion I lost control  while braking at the junction of Nathan Road and Mong Kok Road when I had to stop very suddenly, having spotted the motionless body of an unconscious and seriously injured pedestrian lying in the middle of the carriageway  No motorists were bothering to stop; they were just steering around it casually as though it was a piece of debris or a large pothole.

Although I had braked and was barely still moving, the front wheel still skidded to one side and the bike toppled over  leaving me standing but with my legs spread-eagled over it like a circus clown. I could hear passengers on a passing double-decker bus laughing ( the bus windows were all wide-open in those days ).   In spite of the crowds in the street, not one person had gone to the aid of the accident victim. Because I had a radio, I was to call an ambulance to the scene relatively quickly.