The Legislative Council of Hong Kong on Wednesday issued a written warning to lawmaker Judy Chan Kapui for driving on the wrong side of the road earlier this year, “sternly warning her” to be mindful of her actions and to ensure that she lives up to the public's expectations of LegCo members.

The warning from the LegCo Supervisory Committee came four months after the 45-year-old lawmaker was filmed driving in the opposite direction of traffic on Jaffe Road in Wan Chai on Jan 23, according to the Legislative Council Secretariat.

An investigation was launched after the council received a public complaint regarding Chan’s conduct, which attracted extensive media coverage and significant public attention. The committee invited her to attend a meeting to give explanations and provide information.

In its report following the investigation, the LegCo committee said its members unanimously decided that the lawmaker’s wrong-way driving constituted misconduct.

“Having considered all the findings of the investigation, the committee considered that Ms Chan's commission of the offense ‘careless driving’ was undoubtedly improper, falling short of society's expectations regarding the conduct and ethics required of members,” reads a statement issued by the LegCo Secretariat.

The committee is satisfied that Chan's “imprudent and reckless act” was the result of “her misjudgment made out of a momentary desire for convenience”, but it did not involve serious misconduct such as a breach of personal integrity or abuse of power or dereliction of duty.

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Taking into account that Chan had no previous criminal or traffic conviction, a magistrate, in March, fined her HK$2,000 ($255) and disqualified her from driving for one month, but did not give her any custodial sentence after she had pleaded guilty to careless driving.

Referring to the sentence, a LegCo spokesman said, “This demonstrates the relatively low severity of the case and hence the relatively light sentence.”

Noting that Chan has all along demonstrated remorse since the incident and taken a number of remedial actions, including offering multiple apologies to the public and pleading guilty directly in court without arguing the case, striving to minimize the negative impact of the incident on the reputation of LegCo, the spokesman said she also repeatedly apologized to the LegCo committee for the incident.

“Taking into account all relevant factors, the committee has unanimously concluded that Ms Chan's misconduct did not reach a serious level,” the spokesman said while explaining the rationale for issuing a written warning to the lawmaker.

Reminding all its members to take the exemplary lead in upholding the rule of law, the LegCo said its members should do their best to uphold the reputation of the LegCo and must observe the highest standards of personal conduct and ethics at all times.