A DRIVER was fined 2,000 yuan (US$317) for parking illegally in a way that caused a traffic jam with more than 300 vehicles for several hours on Buji Road near a housing estate in Longgang District on Saturday, local Chinese-language newspapers reported yesterday.

    It is the first instance of the maximum fine for illegal parking being given since new regulations on traffic violations took effect in Shenzhen on Jan. 1. According to the new regulations, drivers could be fined between 200 and 2,000 yuan for illegal parking, depending on factors such as the time and place of the violation and its severity in creating traffic congestion.

    Police received 15 reports about a traffic jam caused by the driver, who parked on a two-way road in front of the housing estate.

    Police towed the car away as they couldn’t get in touch with the driver.

    According to Lin Xuqing, deputy chief of the Buji unit of Shenzhen traffic police, police received a report at around 5 p.m. that a car was parked on the road, blocking buses and other vehicles in both directions. Some nearby roads, such as Jihua Road and Changji Road, were also congested as a result.

    “As the roads were seriously congested, police found it hard to even get to the scene to issue the ticket. Officers finally had to drive motorcycles to the scene,” said Lin.

    According to a witness, the driver turned his car off in the middle of the road as he was going up a slope.

    The driver, surnamed Song, later told police that he had gone to his friend’s home to pick something up. As he wasn’t familiar with the road there, he didn’t expect to block bus routes and cause such a serious traffic jam.

    (Han Ximin)