Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

SHENZHEN police are planning to introduce a road chief rule for intersections with heavy traffic, road sections near schools and hospitals this month to improve the traffic situation.

At these intersections, and in some key areas where the traffic situation needs to be improved, police will set up two-level traffic monitoring pavilions, where police officers designated as road chiefs will head teams responsible for the area or road section. Police aides will be on duty at fixed points to guide traffic and pedestrians, according to a news conference yesterday. The rule is one of 17 measures to further improve the traffic situation.

Police started checking for illegal parking at fuel stations Aug. 1. Violators face fines between 200 yuan (US$30) and 2,000 yuan depending on the severity of the illegal parking.

Starting yesterday, all non-locally registered light diesel-powered self-unloading trucks are banned from roads in the city at any hour.

Police will launch cross-city and cross-province actions to check vehicles with fake, duplicated local license plates.

To improve driving civility, police will tighten checks via surveillance cameras on drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians at crossings without traffic lights. Shenzhen traffic police have also installed four sets of surveillance cameras on Qingshuihe No.1 Road, Qingshuihe No.3 Road, Fuzhong No.1 Road and Haitian Road to record those drivers who fail to give the right of way to vehicles going straight when they are making a left turn. Such violations can easily cause traffic accidents.

Police will set up a second high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lane on the westward road section of Buxin-Nigang Road to further improve road efficiency, and encourage car-pooling and green commuting.

The latest quarterly report made by Amap shows that the severity of congestion in Shenzhen dropped to 23rd from sixth among Chinese cities between April and June compared to the same period last year.

The easing of congestion has been achieved by police measures such as opening HOV and tidal lanes, the popularity of app-based bikes and the opening of Metro Lines 7 and 9.