Overworked traffic wardens face Sisyphus-like challenge

The Beijing Public Security Bureau announced on Dec 6 a campaign from December to March aimed at solving nine types of problems involving traffic, security and the environment.

It is forming working teams, with each one consisting of two traffic wardens, a traffic police officer, an urban management officer and a community police officer.

To counter jaywalking, traffic police have begun to fine pedestrians. On Dec 11, at a junction in Huizhong Road in Chaoyang district, 19 pedestrians were each fined 10 yuan ($1.6) for jaywalking, according to a report on people.com.cn.

A bus driver said jaywalkers should be fined because sometimes they caused traffic jams.

Liu Rui, 60, a Beijing resident, said the punishment should be applied to all jaywalkers because everyone should obey the traffic rules.

The campaign follows recent heated debate online about the "Chinese style of crossing the road", a term referring to the tendency of large numbers of people to ignore red lights.

A China Central Television news program in October featured video footage showing more than 600 people ignoring red lights for more than an hour at a junction in Shijiazhuang, capital of North China's Hebei province.

An increasing number of cities have begun to tackle the problem. In Shijiazhuang, the local government launched a two-month campaign at the end of October, stipulating that jaywalkers could be fined as much as 50 yuan.

Authorities in the city said that when large numbers of pedestrians cross major intersections in defiance of red lights, the first three will be fined. At smaller intersections, all jaywalkers will be punished, according to a Legal Daily report.

Top leaders have set an example for crossing the road. During his visit to Foshan, in South China's Guangdong province, Xi Jinping, China's newly elected top political leader, led the way in walking to a pedestrian crossing when someone wanted to cross a road with no traffic lights, people.com.cn reported on Dec 13.

Contact the writer at jinhaixing@chinadaily.com.cn