Should jaywalking be a crime worthy of public humiliation? In Shanghai it would seem a debate of formidable proportions.
It will now be common practice in Shanghai for the police to post photos and videos of jaywalkers in newspapers and on television! According to news sources, this represents an attempt to bring public shame upon jaywalking offenders in the hopes of preventing them from breaking traffic rules in the future.
The Shanghai Daily stated that offending pedestrians, moped riders and cyclists will be photographed at selected city intersections and their images then posted on television programs especially set up by the police. Lawyers have protested this steep punishment and have threatened defamation lawsuits, but so far, none have been initiated.
One local lawyer, Liu Chunquan, told the press:
“It’s a principle of law that a penalty should match the seriousness of the crime.â€
It would appear that jaywalking is more than a crime; it is a way of life in many Chinese cities. In Shanghai alone, traffic police recorded 7.78 million jaywalking violations in the first eight months of 2008.
What’s next?
The execution of jaywalkers who still refuse to stop?
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If you try do this on Brasil (put the photos and videos of jaywalkers on TV and newspapers) you’ll need a lot of time on TV and a lot of paper on the news paper.
..this is messed up…
…soo strange…ah well, if they want to…
just let them die
The second photo shows all to well the reason for jaywalking in Shanghai or any Chinese City. The CARS do not obey the traffic laws. If a pedestrian waits in the crosswalk for the crossing signal, then they have to contend with right turners not yielding, red light runners not yielding, and left turners not yielding.
If they cross in the middle of the street, then they only have to dodge the normal two way traffic. It’s actually much safer.
Leave it to the Chinese to attack the easiest symptom and ignore the actual problem. Once the vehicular traffic learns to behave, the pedestrians will follow suit.
I don’t think when you cross the road, that whether you follow the rule is dependent on whether the cars do or not. It’s about your own safety. The fact is no matter how much of a reason you have to jaywalk, if anything happens it wiill be the jaywalker’s fault and in the worst case the jaywalker’s life. I admit I am a jaywalker myself, but it is at the end of the day not the right thing to do, its dangerous, especially in busy and crowded cities like Shanghai. I am not saying that their new way of stopping it is right or wrong, but I think it’s definitely right to be taking the initiative…its not like anyone other than yourself will benefit in any way if you dont jaywalk.
“It’s about your own safety. ”
Well, then let it be said that sometimes in Shanghai I find it safer to jaywalk than to actually follow the crosswalk. Especially because of that second picture. I often have to wait quite a while for the right-turners to pass by before I can cross when the light turns green (or get verbally abused in Chinese when I’m nearly hit if I try to cross the first possible moment).
Now I can’t wait to jaywalk so I can get on TV
to say the truth, i’ve never considered crossing the street with no cars coming either way is breaking the law…
i’ve been fined in Melbourne, Warned in Taipei and San Diego… i guess that i just dun learn…
I honestly don’t see whats so bad about having a photo or video of you jay walking shown publicly. I don’t think it’s humiliating at all.
If you’re planning to jaywalk,and be filmed or photographed,you mind as well do some advertising for your company,like wearing a placard showing your company’s logo. I’m sure your picture would not been shown!
You all make such interesting points and I thank you.
jaywalking is a weird subject, I know, but it did fascinate me and that is why I chose to write about it.
Thank you all for reading and commenting on the piece.
if the jaywalkers should follow the rules, then the drivers should follow the rules too.
most of the jaywalkers aren’t following the rules because the drivers aren’t following traffic lights/traffic rules.