FOLLOWING an online post composed by a Shenzhen resident, who was told by a sanitation worker that a taxi had bumped into two segregation poles on the street before driving away, the Shenzhen traffic police managed to bust the cabbie and imposed a penalty for his irresponsible behavior, SZTV reported.

According to the online post, which tagged the traffic police’s official Weibo account, a taxi ran into the segregation poles at the intersection between Jingtian No. 1 Street North and Jingtian Road at around 4 a.m. Thursday.

While attempting to leave the scene, the cabbie accelerated so fast that he almost ran into the sanitation worker who was working on the street at the time.

Out of sympathy, the netizen helped to share the cleaner’s testimony on Weibo and tagged the Shenzhen Traffic Police with photos of the damaged segregation poles attached as evidence, drawing the attention of the authority as well as many netizens.

The sanitation worker, identified as Li, gave an interview to the TV program at the Futian traffic police brigade and explained what had happened.

Li said that it was not a rarity to see vehicles colliding with public facilities while working on the street. She was furious that the cabbie wouldn’t shoulder his responsibility since her husband had once been knocked over by a van and the driver did not get out to help.

The Futian traffic police have tracked down the taxi and contacted the driver. The taxi driver, surnamed Tan, said he did not make a report to the traffic police or his insurance company because he saw no damage to his car.

Tan apologized to Li when the two met in person. The driver was fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,487) and 12 penalty points were added to his driver’s license, which will be suspended for three months.

The penalty was tailored according to the 109th article of the city’s traffic management rules. Anyone who installs, moves, occupies or damages a traffic facility, such as signs, road lines and bars will face a 10,000 to 20,000 yuan fine and be requested to restore the facility.

Traffic police reminded residents not to run away from the scene of an accident, or they would be held responsible for avoiding the penalty.(Zhang Qian)