Chinese city uses facial recognition to tackle jaywalking

WUHAN -- Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, has joined other cities by installing facial recognition equipment at major intersections to encourage road safety.

On Monday, the equipment detected a middle-aged man crossing an intersection in Jiefang Road on a red light. The photographs appeared on the screen beside the intersection immediately to shame him.

Meanwhile, the high-definition pictures were transferred to the provincial police department database, where it was compared with a data base of images and the jaywalker was identified.

According to Wu Gang of Wuhan traffic management bureau, the equipment will be used on more roads soon.

For frequent offenders, the system will add them into a list connected with credit-based services of government departments and banks.

Facial recognition is becoming increasingly common in China, where it has been installed in ATM machines, KFC restaurants and university dorms.

A number of Chinese cities use the technology to catch jaywalkers.