Punish everyone on wrong side of road in ticketing blitz
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Shanghai Daily, December 16, 2011
The recent school bus accident in Xuzhou, in which 15 young and promising young lives were snuffed out, appears to have been caused by a pedi-cab traveling in the "wrong" left road lane.
It seems high time that the public gets educated on the merits of sticking to basic traffic rules and LIVE!
My being an inveterate bicycle rider, and religiously keeping right at all times, I often meet with an approaching rider keeping left. More often than not, the left-side rider is unyielding and so am I, if I happen to be in my lecturing mode and so we both are compelled to stop, whence I ask: "Excuse me, please tell me: are we in England or are we in China?"
Puzzlement appears upon the face of my opponent who is likely to retort, "Of course we are in China." I then point out that Chinese traffic rules prescribe the right hand rule and that if (s)he wishes to live longer, (s)he may like to stick to that rule.
Reluctant apologies are then usually uttered, following which the recalcitrant rider passes and then blithely continues to ride on the left on, undoubtedly, a fast road to heaven; we are NOT to be lectured to.
Almost always, when traffic lights change, left-turning vehicles rev up in overdrive in an effort to reach the intersection center BEFORE the arrival of approaching traffic and so be at the head of a bevy of snaking cars turning left and blocking the exit of onwards traveling cars, causing anger, resentment, horn honking and worse, huge traffic jams at peak hours.
And, of course, more often than not: fatal accidents. A motorcycle rider died yesterday in such an accident, a stone's throw from my residence.
It is a privilege, in China, to be permitted to turn right on a red light WHEN THE ROAD IS CLEAR. Most ignore the clear road bit, consider it their right to turn and plough through at high speed and with blaring horns addressed to the hapless bike rider or pedestrian who is crossing on their green light,
A majority of cars come speeding out of housing estate gates or small side lanes, nearly mauling those passing on the footpath or in the bicycle lane.
And so the list goes on.
In this day and age when driver's licenses can be bought or when license exams can be passed for a small fee, many fresh drivers haven't a clue about traffic rules. Less do they care, when at the controls of their newly acquired, but potentially lethal, status symbols.
What is to be done?
Singapore, again, has all the answers.
Just carry out, simultaneously, a few "enforcement blitzes" in different parts of the city and suburbs and report these in the newspapers, in blogs and in chat rooms.
Position an army of traffic officers at an intersection and near housing estate gates and fine everyone heavily who breaks the rules.
Such blitzes must be carried out continuously and they pay for themselves.
The fines received in a day usually pay for the salaries and expenses of the officers and may even reap a tidy profit.
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