Traffic police in Shanghai want to publicly shame jaywalkers and cyclists who violate traffic rules by displaying photographs and videos of their offences in newspapers and on TV.
The images of jaywalkers, moped riders and cyclists will be collected from selected downtown road crossings.
But the radical scheme has come under fire from lawyers who claimed public humiliation was too heavy a punishment for jaywalking and warned of defamation lawsuits against police.
Police plan to start regular columns in newspapers and launch television programs to promote the program.
Rampant traffic violations by pedestrians, bikes and mopeds are considered to be the main cause of traffic congestion.
Traffic police recorded 7.78 million violations at city intersections in the first eight months. Some of the violators were fined. But it's still difficult for police officers to stop all jaywalkers and cyclists.
Lawyers have strong objections to the proposal. Liu Chunquan, a lawyer from Guangshen & Partners Office, said police would be abusing their power if they went ahead with the plan. "It's a principle of law that a penalty should match the seriousness of the crime," Liu said.
"Public humiliation is too heavy a punishment for jaywalking, which is only a very minor offense. There are no terms in law that support police doing this." He said police would be facing the risk of "reputation damage" lawsuits filed by those captured in the photos and videos.
In efforts to further improve traffic, police have set up reinforced patrols and recruited volunteers at 60 road crossings across the city.
Volunteers organized by the city's civilization promotion office were on duty at these busy road crossings in rush hours every day to stop jaywalking and traffic violations by cyclists.
People who refuse advice from police or the volunteers and insist on breaking the law will be the major targets. A similar trial was carried out in 2006 but on a smaller scale in downtown Huangpu, Luwan and Jing'an districts.
(Shanghai Daily August 28, 2008)