On May 23, Shenzhen introduced tough new rules in order to discourage the "Chinese style of crossing the road". "Chinese people cross roads without thinking about traffic lights, so long as they are part of a crowd," said a post on Sina Weibo.
A CCTV news program showed that in only an hour, more than 600 people jumped red lights when crossing a road in Shijiazhuang, Hebei.
Many people say that they jaywalk (乱穿马路) because the red light lasts too long. Such an opinion is supported by a research team at Tongji University. The team did research on people's waiting times at different road crossings for three years. They found that Chinese people would wait for 70 to 90 seconds (秒) before they lost their patience. "People are likely to ignore (忽视) the light when the waiting time is longer than they can bear," said Ni Ying, a member of the research team.
However, a survey on Sina Weibo suggested that people jaywalk mainly because they ignore rules. "I always obey traffic rules. Time is important but safety should come first," someone wrote on his Weibo.
Many countries give out punishments to jaywalkers. In Singapore, the maximum can be three months in prison. Some Chinese cities have started taking some actions, too. For example, the first three people in a jaywalking group will be fined 50 yuan in Shijiazhuang.
But calling on people to respect rules is more important. To completely solve the problem, everyone should realize the importance of obeying the traffic rules.
