Shanghai police take steps against the jay walkers
 

Richard Spencer / London Telegraph | June 2nd 2006

Traffic wardens and closed circuit television cameras are being deployed in pursuit of jay-walkers in Shanghai.

In a crackdown that has led to televised fights between pedestrians and policemen, the city is imposing fines of 50 yuan (£3.50) for crossing the road after the green man has turned red.

Pedestrians are also being filmed. When they can be identified, the pictures are taken to their places of work and shown to their bosses, who have the right to extract the fine from pay packets.

Otherwise, the film is shown on television as part of a public shaming exercise, or the photographs are posted on billboards.

The order is the work of a little known department of the Shanghai government, the Spiritual Civilisation Office, and has been compared to the campaigns of the Cultural Revolution.

Walking in front of the traffic is a national pastime in most of China. But in Shanghai, which has an unusually extensive system of traffic lights, it is regarded as a sign of backwardness. The crackdown is also aimed at reducing the 400 pedestrian and cyclist deaths on the city's streets every year.

Among those charged with rectifying this is Traffic Assistant Tong, 55, who spends six hours a day blowing his whistle at crowds of shoppers, office workers and cyclists on a busy section of Huaihai Road, a fashionable shopping street.

''The Spiritual Civilisation Office tells us that we must deal with these jay-walkers in a harmonious way," he said, as he gave a quick blast on his whistle at a cyclist pedalling across a zebra crossing and waved at him to dismount.

Mr Tong, who did not give his full name, was one of four wardens and two policemen monitoring this one junction alone.

A crossing just up the road is now the most famous in China, after it became the scene of a violent row between a policeman and a woman he tried to fine 20 yuan. She ended up hitting and scratching him, all captured on camera, and was jailed for 10 days, the first of several recorded cases of pedestrian rage.

Although she was never formally identified, it was with extra glee that Shanghai's newspapers discovered that she had a master's degree from a British university.

Shanghai's citizens have mixed feelings.

"I am totally against taking photos of jay-walking pedestrians," a woman passer-by, Luo Zhenya, said. ''On the other hand, having traffic wardens keep order at crossings seems the only way to do it."

Mr Tong blamed the millions of new arrivals from poorer parts of the country. "These migrant workers have never seen a traffic light before," he said. "It is pointless arguing with them."

In fact, it seemed to be Huaihai Road's smartly dressed women who were most aggressive this week.

As Mr Tong tried to flag down one cycling the wrong way down the street, she shouted at him: "Get out of my way, and don't look at me like that" - and left him standing.

well it's about time they do something about those jaywalkers and they should be fine for breaking the law.

China laws are firm and strict....lucky i dont live there :P