SHENZHEN’S traffic police will impose punishment on motorists for the first offenses, instead of allowing two exemptions, for nonlocal vehicles that use temporary license plates to evade detection on Shenzhen roads during workday rush hours starting Sept. 11.

The violators will be fined 300 yuan (US$45) and have three penalty points added to their driver’s license.

Temporary license plates should be stuck onto the front and rear windshields, so they can be seen clearly.

On Friday, traffic police began enforcing a new rule that bans nonlocal cars from running on Shenzhen roads during workday rush hour in the morning and evening. Violators will get two exemptions, and the punishment will be imposed on the third violation.

However, in recent checks police found that some drivers were using invalid temporary license plates, which couldn’t be detected by the license plate recognition system, to evade punishment.

Starting from Sept. 11, police will launch an action against vehicles that don’t have license plates, use invalid temporary license plates or violate traffic rules, such as illegal parking, illegally changing lanes and running red lights, while using temporary license plates.

Police will check the file information of vehicles with temporary license plates and will impound those vehicles without file information. Drivers or owners who use forged temporary license plates will be detained. Police will also impound vehicles with temporary license plates that have three unhandled traffic violations in Guangdong Province.

According to related traffic rules, drivers face a fine of 10,000 yuan for driving vehicles without license plates or temporary license plates. Police can impound a vehicle and suspend the vehicle license for six months. Drivers who don’t install their license plates, inappropriately install their temporary license plates, or mar, cover or damage their license plates or use other methods to evade punishment, will be fined 6,000 yuan and have their vehicles impounded until the violations are canceled. Drivers with temporary license plates face a fine of 10,000 yuan for their second violation within a year.

According to statistics from the traffic police authority, around 601,700 nonlocal vehicles run on Shenzhen roads every day, accounting for 36 percent of the total vehicles on roads.

(Han Ximin)