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The last time I was in Hong Kong in early June, I found that the air was just as polluted, if not worse, than the previous time I was in the city. But surprisingly, I didn't read about it as much as I used to in the press. Hong Kong's civic leaders and the usual crowd of social activists seem to have shifted their attention from what is considered the most serious health threat to other things, which are not of much consequence to most Hong Kong people.

Indeed, the more people agree that the primary cause of air pollution in Hong Kong is the proliferation of cars on the roads, the less they want to talk about it. It appears they love their cars too much to risk instigating any government measure to clamp down on car ownership.

Many Hong Kong people must have developed great fondness for cars although the clogged traffic on most roads has made driving a chore rather than a pleasure, even on weekends and holidays. There's no need to consult the statistics. The disgruntled taxi drivers are more than willing to give you an earful of the worsening traffic if you don't object.

I've written columns in the past praising the smooth flow of Hong Kong traffic compared with the chaos in Beijing, Shanghai or other mainland cities where I've spent time on assignments. But on my recent visits to Hong Kong, I found that the traffic situation has progressively worsened.

To be sure, gridlocks are becoming more frequent not only because there are many more cars, but because an increasing number of drivers choose to ignore traffic rules and common sense. In the past, we rarely saw cars in the yellow-box area at an intersection when the traffic ahead wasn't moving. But on my last visit, that was a frequent sight, even at the busiest intersections in Central.

Most people like me don't mind so much about the traffic. We can always take the subway or other modes of public transport which are so efficient and convenient. But, there's no escape from the highly-polluted air that is almost everywhere in the city center.

Now that we agree that cars are the main culprit, we have to ask why the government, which has made fighting pollution one of its top priorities, hasn't taken stronger measures to control the drastic increase in Hong Kong's car ownership. The city's car registration fees, though high by international standards, apparently aren't high enough to have much effect in discouraging car owners.

The government also hasn't done enough to encourage the use of hybrid or all electric cars to help reduce pollution. The compactness of the city seems ideal for the use of electric cars whose major drawback of short travel distance shouldn't pose a problem in normal use in Hong Kong. But the government has been slow in building the infrastructure that can make it more convenient for owners to recharge the batteries of their electrical cars.

And of course, the established car culture in Hong Kong will need to be addressed too. The love for big and powerful cars by people in this small city with narrow roads seems to defy logic. The large number of gas-guzzling and pollutant-belching SUVs on the roads is a testament to the perverted preference of some Hong Kong motorists who have big egos and little sense.

Nobody doubts the government's sincerity in combating pollution. But it must show its courage to legislate a much higher standard of environmental protection that applies to cars.

The author is a veteran current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 07/05/2013 page9)