Fines are not the solution to jaywalking

A campaign against "crossing the road in Chinese style" is sweeping across the country. Coined by Chinese Internet users, the term refers to the behavior of pedestrians and cyclists, when they throng together to cross roads at places without a zebra crossing or at junctions when the pedestrian lights are against them.

Beijing will impose a 10-yuan ($1.62) fine on the first jaywalkers in a group starting from May 6, while in Chengdu, pedestrians at the front of a jaywalking crowd now face fines of up to 50 yuan. Hangzhou in Zhejiang province recently installed video cameras and display screens at some junctions to expose perpetrators on the spot.

Many people rebuke jaywalkers for disrupting traffic order and ascribe the behavior to Chinese people's tendency to follow others, even when doing something uncivil, but that avoids the issue of the ever-growing number of vehicles in the country that are squeezing the space for pedestrians and cyclists.