Beijing traffic authorities recently announced that they will
not prohibit officers from hiding themselves from drivers' view in
order to nab violators, local newspapers report.
The announcement was made in response to the recent ban on such
actions in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region.
A number of drivers have lauded the Urumqi decision, saying it
is "more civilized" not to have police spying on them.
However, Jiang Ming'an, a law professor at Peking University,
said he supports the decision of the Beijing traffic authority.
"When there are not enough police officers available on the
streets, watching for violators from a hidden location is a more
efficient way to curb traffic violations," Jiang said.
One Beijing car owner testified to the effectiveness of the
ploy.
"A traffic officer came out from behind a billboard when I was
driving my car in the bus lane during the morning rush hour. He
fined me. Now I never drive in the bus lanes because I'm always
afraid there are traffic police standing somewhere behind the
billboards."
Some drivers complain that the officers are more interested in
imposing fines than order.
According to a January report in the Jianghuai Morning
Post, some traffic officers in Fuzhou, Jiangxi
Province, moved a sign marking a one-way street into an
inconspicuous location so that they could fine people for driving
in the wrong direction.
Traffic authorities in many parts of the country have not kept
pace with the rapid rise in private automobile ownership. Roads are
often in poor repair and traffic management plans, systems and
mechanisms are woefully inadequate.
However, the Ministry of Public Security's Traffic Management
Bureau reports that speeding, poor driving skills and poor vehicle
maintenance are the three major causes of accidents.
Professor Yu Lei of Beijing
Jiaotong University said in an interview earlier this year that
while the government needs to enforce traffic laws strictly, it
must also find ways to improve people's safety awareness.
"Statistics show that 95 percent of the expressway accidents are
caused by human error," Yu said. "Those accidents caused by drunk
drivers or by speeding could have been avoided."
China has 2 percent of the world's total vehicles, but accounts
for 15 percent of its traffic fatalities. In 2004, 107,000 people
died in traffic accidents.
(China.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong April 7, 2005)