However, in order for the police to press charges and issue fines based on the evidence, certain conditions need to be met.

First, the violation must have occurred within three days of reporting it. Secondly, the video must feature road signs or other distinguishing features that clearly show where the violation occurred. Finally, videos cannot be longer than 60 seconds, and 100MB in size.

Shanghai traffic police say they will investigate each submission within 15 business days. City residents who make a submission can follow the complaints progress online.

Although the Shanghai Public Security Bureau was initially hesitant to adopt dash-cam evidence, other jurisdictions in China have openly embraced it. In May 2014, Shenzhen authorized the use of dash cams in its ambulances to help prosecute drivers who fail to yield right-of-way to ambulances.

Dash cams have become increasingly popular in China as a way for drivers to protect themselves against being extorted in “broken vase” scams. The cameras have also been important in capturing road rage incidents.

Want to make the streets of Shanghai safer? You can submit a video here. For now, services are only available in Chinese.

The post Dashcam Videos Help Shanghai Police Catch Bad Guys appeared first on The Nanfang.

Traffic police say they fined 20 foreign exchange students for driving violations in Hongkou District alone last month. The most common violations are driving a scooter without a license plate and carrying a passenger.

Whether deserved or not, the Chinese media think foreign students are terrible drivers. The title of this story reads “Foreign students constantly violating traffic regulations”. The sentiment was echoed by school official Zhou Bo who said, “Foreign students are not very well informed about traffic laws and rules in China, and we hope through this effort they can be better prepared to avoid traffic offenses.”

An average of 4,300 international student enroll at Shanghai International Studies University every year.

The post Foreign Students Singled Out By Shanghai Police in Safety Awareness Campaign appeared first on The Nanfang.

“When we started this year, we had about one percent market share. Today, nine months later, we’re looking at about 30 to 35 percent market share,” Kalanick said.

Kalanick spoke of the importance of Uber’s relationship with Baidu: “We can get introductions to the city governments, the government officials that want to shepherd our kind of innovation and our kind of progress into their cities,” said Kalanick.

Kalanick also praised China’s harmony and prosperity: “Progress is something we see the government be incredibly open to, whether it be about more jobs and less pollution, less congestion on the streets, better utilization of infrastructure, that kind of progress always has to be in harmony with stability and that is one of the big things that we partnered with the government on,” said Kalanick.

Uber has had a bit of a rough go during its first year of operations in China. Earlier this year, Uber’s Guanghou and Chengdu offices were raided by government officials within a week of each other. Only last month, a Chengdu woman accused an Uber driver of robbing and sexually molesting her.

Finally, and although Uber was not specifically identified, ride-sharing services were blamed for causing last month’s traffic gridlock in Beijing, reported China Daily. “E-hailing services have changed passenger habits on commuting and travel, and the frequent use of private vehicles has put more pressure on rush-hour traffic,” said Wang Yujing, a data analyst at AutoNavi.

The post Uber Announces Massive Expansion in China appeared first on The Nanfang.

The town of Liuzhou, Guangxi can’t be blamed for having good intentions, but its new emergency lane for ambulances might not be as effective as it had hoped.

The city’s new lane is designed to help ambulances get back to the hospital as fast as possible, hopefully to save lives. But the lane built in Liuzhou is only 160 metres long, making it a very small convenience – and that’s if no cars are blocking the route. Not only that, ambulance staff apparently need to notify police in order to block the lane when they want to use it, which would also take precious time.

Emergency vehicles aren’t often given the right of way in Chinese traffic, as drivers have no problems ignoring the wailing sirens of ambulances.Emergency vehicles aren’t often given the right of way in Chinese traffic, as drivers have no problems ignoring the wailing sirens of ambulances. “Over 98 percent of drivers do not get out of the way for us,” said Chen, a veteran ambulance worker in Shenzhen. “There is simply no concept of this in the minds of city residents.”

Last year, an ambulance was forced to drive against the flow of traffic to reach an accident scene when drivers jammed the emergency lane of a multi-vehicle collision in Zhejiang.

As a result, Shenzhen ambulances have been equipped with video cameras in order to help prosecute drivers that block the way of city ambulances.

Here’s what the stunted Liuzhou emergency lane looks like:

The post China Builds an Emergency Ambulance Lane… That’s Just 160 Metres Long appeared first on The Nanfang.

READ: Shenzhen Driver Taunts Police Online, Police Post His Arrest Online

Now though, it appears the police are taking action from these online submissions. The Shenzhen traffic police has already issued 105 traffic tickets from 357 online reports made between January 8 and January 22.

For everyone’s convenience, they posted them online:

So just think: the next time someone cuts you off or takes up two parking spots, you could dispense some of your own justice just by using your Weibo account.

Photo:  Shenzhen Traffic Police

The post Guy Cut You Off? Take a Pic and Post it to Weibo, and Shenzhen Police Will Follow-up appeared first on The Nanfang.

The police want to stop drivers from blasting their high-beams at oncoming traffic, and they think they’ve found a novel way to do it: by forcing offenders to stare at the same bright lights for five minutes.

The police explained the rationale behind the punishment in a Weibo post:

Two looks, two considerations, one penalty
Do you use high beams improperly? The Shenzhen Traffic Police will deal with it like this. 1. Two looks: to make the violator personally experience what high beams look like on his car or on another car and feel the pain involved. 2. Two considerations: police ask drivers, why do you put on your high beams? How do you use them properly? These answers are explained to them. 3. Punishment: RMB 300, 1 demerit point. Last night, the Shenzhen Traffic Police caught 61 drivers using their high beams improperly, and taught all of these violators a lesson by experiencing it themselves

While some many call this technique heavy-handed, netizens on  Weibo have no complaints. In fact, most people are wholly enthusiastic about the punishment:

村口强吻：
The punishment is too light!

袁志軒Steven：
Hope you can thoroughly implement this; it’s very annoying!

Mi土RiMo川n：
Very good. Those drivers who always turn on the high-beams are the worst. If your eyesight is poor, then don’t drive a car.

黑猫的胡子：
This is to the satisfaction of everyone! Support this all the way!

HRunYUAN：
How do you properly use high-beams?

Photos: Sina, Foshan Daily, Shenzhen Traffic Police

The post Jerk Shenzhen Drivers Forced To Stare Into Own High Beams for 5 Minutes appeared first on The Nanfang.

And yet, there’s so much more to this picture, perhaps even as a metaphor for using the internet in China. Consider, if you will:

• The advertisement on the back of the bus is for 4G internet access.
• 4G internet access is the next stage of technology for mobile phones and will provide incredibly fast browsing and downloads.
• The public bus is often a slower form of transportation relative to the speedier cars that routinely pass it.
• This public bus has broken down, and is hindering traffic on the highway.
• The men who are pushing the bus are police officers, and are tasked with policing the highways of China.
• Along with pushing, these police officers are controlling the direction of the bus.
• Anyone who is dismayed by using public transportation in China can provide for their own speedy transportation using their own vehicle, or a proxy of one, at an additional cost.

While pictures are worth a thousand words, to write anything else would just be snark.

Photo: Changsha Traffic Police via Weibo

The post This Is What Using The Internet In China Is Like appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Atlantic has explained the success of the TV show as being down to its presentation of fathers taking an active role in their children’s upbringing, a very new trend in China. You can read a translation of the original English lyrics on Chinasmack.

Here’s the YouTube version of the video:

The post Inspired by Hit TV Show, Cops in Shunde do Music Video About Traffic Safety appeared first on The Nanfang.

Courtesy of Baidu Images

Since Shenzhen stepped up its crackdown on jaywalking last week, instances of people talking back to traffic cops may not have been rare, but they can seldom have been as entertaining as this.

A conversation between a jaywalker and a traffic cop which was captured on camera has gone big in national media. Initially, she was excited to be on television, and in the subsequent argument, the attractive young jaywalker managed to exasperate the male traffic cop with her twisted logic and her claim that she would continue jaywalking no matter what.

Here is a translation/transcript of the conversation that you can hear on Anhui Satellite Television. The footage had subtitles and soundtracks added to it to make parts of it appear like a Taiwan comedy show, raising some questions as to whether it’s genuine.

But if a scriptwriter came up with this, he or she should be on the next plane to Hollywood:

Traffic cop: You, you you. Come here. (She stops.) Do you see the traffic light?
Jaywalker: Yes.
Traffic cop: What colour is it?
Jaywalker: Two red, one green.
Traffic cop: Two red? How are there two reds? Look at that light. It’s the one for pedestrians, and it’s red. You’ve walked through a red light. Do you know?
(She looks at the camera.)

Jaywalker: (smiles at the camera) Hey, you’re filming this. Which channel will it be on?
Traffic cop: Errr, never mind which channel. I just want to tell you that today this particular violation is being cracked down on.
Jaywalker: Actually, I’ve always jaywalked.
Traffic cop: You’ve always jaywalked? And you don’t mind admitting this in front of a cop?
Jaywalker: I know the rules say I shouldn’t jaywalk. Jaywalking reflects on the poor behaviour of the Chinese public.
Traffic cop: Yes, yes.
Jaywalker: But I am a person of poor character and morals.
Traffic cop: (Laughs) Then, do you think people like us should follow your example?
Jaywalker: No, people shouldn’t be like me. A person of such low character shouldn’t be imitated. But as long as people like me account for a minority in society, it doesn’t matter. People shouldn’t jaywalk.
Traffic cop: Today, at this junction, we are targeting jaywalkers. You are the first.
Jaywalker: Yes! What an honour.

Then the footage cuts to a few seconds later.

Jaywalker: If a pedestrian dies as a result of jaywalking, then that is their own problem.
(The cop is now utterly bemused.)
Jaywalker: And the drivers who hit and kill them are good. They shouldn’t be punished. You don’t need to worry about me, this is my own life I’m endangering.
Traffic cop: So we shouldn’t care if you get hit and killed?
Jaywalker: Yes, don’t worry. Because when I jaywalk, I am committing a crime. If I die then so be it. Police might go looking for the vehicle that killed me, but actually the driver will have done nothing wrong. They will have driven through a green light.
Traffic cop: Okay, so if a vehicle hits you, should the driver pay you compensation?
Jaywalker: Why would I demand compensation?
Traffic cop: If a vehicle hits a pedestrian who’s breaking the law, the driver can be considered up to 10% responsible.
Jaywalker: Just 10%?
Traffic cop: (Angry) Having to pay compensation can be a devastating thing for a person! Do you want to see a driver hit a pedestrian on the road and then….
Jaywalker: What a fortunate thing that would be!
Traffic cop: Yes!
Jaywalker: For training purposes, this footage should end with me looking at the camera and saying “I will never do it again” before disappearing discreetly.
Traffic cop: You want this to be edited into a story.
Jaywalker: I wouldn’t mind taking time to cooperate with such a project.
Traffic cop: Who would cooperate with you? I’m here to do a job. We’re not acting in a TV show.
Jaywalker: Okay.
Traffic cop: I hope you can….
Jaywalker: It doesn’t matter what you hope.

The footage ends there and the anchorwoman says: “I’m speechless. Is this real or fake.”

The post Surreal conversation between jaywalker and traffic cop in SZ goes viral appeared first on The Nanfang.

As well as a widespread disregard for traffic laws, some accidents happen even when neither driver is technically breaking the law.

That was the case in Shenzhen when three people were killed after traffic lights at adjacent roads on a junction stayed green, causing a cement mixer to clash with a van, according to local television. The accident happened on July 10, and it has since emerged that the malfunction had been reported on Sina Weibo the day before.

The cement mixer smashed into the side of the van carrying three men and three women, according to a witness surnamed Yang. After the collision, only the driver was able to move, said Yang.

After the accident, several onlookers stopped to open the back door of the van and bring out the victims. Unfortunately two men and one woman did not survive.

The next day, an investigation by Shenzhen Traffic Police showed the accident to be caused by a malfunctioning traffic light, which was repaired the following day.

The Traffic Police have such confidence in street lights that they’re encouraging motorists to assume that all traffic lights are broken and approach them accordingly, looking both ways before continuing with caution.

There is a 12-minute compilation of traffic accidents in Shandong Province here. Warning though: they are not for the squeamish.

The post A traffic light in a Shenzhen intersection malfunctions; 3 people are dead appeared first on The Nanfang.