Original title: Invisible traffic lights, Z-shaped zebra crossings, Taizhou, Zhejiang, “comfortable pedestrians” pay attention to
It has long been heard that the “zebra crossing courtesy pedestrians” have been promoted well in various parts of Zhejiang. The reporters who are investigating in Taizhou took advantage of their free time before breakfast and walked south along Jiefang South Road in Jiaojiang District in front of the resident hotel to find out.
As the morning peak approached, there were more vehicles on the road, and the “zebra crossing, grab a photo, please be courteous” prompt was particularly eye-catching. The reporter saw that as long as there is a pedestrian entering the zebra crossing, passing vehicles will slow down to stop and courteous pedestrians, without exception.
What’s more curious is that the zebra crossing here does not go straight across the street, but is divided into two parallel sections in a zigzag shape, with a distance of more than ten meters in the middle, surrounded by warning piles to form a safe island… “Look left and right, pass safely”” If the car makes people, I’ll go quickly, and I will like the sign, which prompts pedestrians to pass quickly.
Look at civilization on the zebra crossing, and be polite to pedestrians. The reporter came to the office of the Civilized City Creation Committee of Taizhou City (hereinafter referred to as the Creation Office) to learn about the details of the local implementation of “Zebra Crossing Courtesy Pedestrians”.
Technological support and bus leadership are indispensable
“To be honest, I didn’t have much confidence at the beginning.” Chen Yongkuai, deputy director of the Taizhou Traffic Police Bureau, said quickly.
In June 2016, in order to welcome the fifth “National Civilized City” selection, Taizhou City decided to learn from the provincial capital Hangzhou and implement the “Zebra Crossing Courtesy Pedestrian”.
Although it is a legal obligation for motor vehicle drivers to slow down and stop before the zebra crossing, it is not easy to reverse the bad driving habits that some drivers have developed over the years and cultivate new civilized habits.
Obviously, only relying on the “zebra crossing, grab a photo, please be courteous” sign on the side of the road is definitely not enough, and we must rely on strict control in the early stage. Compared with the huge traffic flow on the road, Chen Yong’s manpower is inefficient after all.
Some cities promote “zebra crossings to be courteous to pedestrians” and send police officers to enforce the law on zebra crossing sections with handheld cameras. However, there are hidden safety hazards to traffic and traffic, and disputes are prone to occur. “You check this car, the car ran away, and the driver who was fined was not convinced.” Chen Yong said.
Often due to insufficient law enforcement power, the “hard leverage” of “3 points deduction and a fine of 100 yuan” can only be reduced to “a dead letter.”
The traffic police department of Taizhou City introduced an unmanned capture system in a timely manner, and solved this contradiction with the support of science and technology. As of the end of 2016, Taizhou City had set up 137 unmanned capture sites. At the beginning, some drivers wanted to “rote memorize”: which places would be captured, and then the more points were set up, ordinary people really couldn’t remember.
The driving habit of pedestrians’ courtesy of the zebra crossing has taken root in Taizhou ever since. “Without modern scientific and technological means, this will definitely not be possible,” Chen Yong said.
It is understood that in 2018, 120,000 vehicles on the zebra crossing were investigated and dealt with in the urban area of Taizhou City, 114,000 vehicles were investigated and dealt with in 2019, and the number was reduced to 104,000 vehicles in 2020.
“Another experience is that public vehicles must take the lead in implementation.” Xu Changyou, captain of the Order Management Brigade of the Taizhou Traffic Police Bureau, told reporters that Taizhou can smoothly implement the “comfortable zebra crossing”, buses, taxis, official vehicles, and public officials. Driving a car is a good example.
According to local regulations in Taizhou, if a public official does not give way to pedestrians while driving, the Traffic Police Bureau and the Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau will send a copy of illegal records to the Taizhou City Creation Office. The founding office will then regularly transcribe the personnel to the unit to which they are affiliated, and conduct media exposure for multiple violations of the law. If the circumstances are serious, they will conduct warning interviews with the discipline inspection and supervision departments.
A local official car driver told reporters, “If there are three times when there is no record of courtesy pedestrians in front of the zebra crossing, I will be fired.”
The driver master had a record of non-compliance once. “The captain of the team accompanied me to the traffic police department for half a day of education. Later, after passing the exam, I returned to work.” He said.
On March 14, 2017, Taizhou City exposed the first batch of state-owned enterprises and public institutions vehicles that did not give way to pedestrians in front of the zebra crossing. Seven days later, the Taizhou Commission for Discipline Inspection and other departments interviewed the responsible parties and responsible persons in charge of 24 relevant units.
From April 2017 to January this year, there were 57 cases of uncivilized traffic behaviors reported by public officials in Taizhou City, totaling 33,575 person-times.
“Policy policies can only be pushed down by acting on public officials,” said Chen Liqing, deputy director of the Taizhou City Creation Office.
Pedestrian safety and traffic efficiency must be balanced
To make the zebra crossing a civilized urban landscape, it will not happen overnight.
When the Taizhou “Zebra Crossing Courtesy Pedestrians” first started, rear-end collisions of vehicles increased significantly, and there were even casualties.
“Pedestrians thought that the vehicle would give way, but the driver has not yet developed the habit of giving way, which resulted in tragedy.” Xu Changyou said bluntly, “The pressure at the time was particularly great.”
For a while, pedestrians complained that it was not safe to cross the road, and the driver complained that the car was driving too slowly.
Just like the ingenious Z-shaped zebra crossing, the original intention is to “force” pedestrians to face the direction of motor vehicles when they cross the road, so as to better observe the situation of road vehicles. However, some non-motor vehicle owners found it too troublesome to walk the Z-route with their carts. The picture went straight across the safety island and caused an accident instead.
As a result, the Z-shaped zebra crossings on the main roads in downtown Taizhou are all used with safety fences that cannot be traversed by non-motorized vehicles.
“We also made a reminder of’no non-motorized vehicles to pass’ in front of some zebra crossings. Cycling at a fast speed, going around a few hundred meters, and crossing the road at an intersection with signal lights, it will only take a minute or two.” Chen Yong said.
In Chen Yong’s view, the key to the smooth implementation of “Zebra crossing courtesy to pedestrians” lies in balancing the safety of pedestrians and the efficiency of motor vehicle traffic. New civilized habits have to be established jointly by vehicle drivers and pedestrians.
According to the “Taizhou Civilized Behavior Promotion Regulations”, pedestrians are not allowed to browse electronic devices such as mobile phones, play around, stay, and not leap over or lean on road isolation facilities when passing through intersections or crossing roads.
The reporter saw on Jindai Road in Huangyan District that there were not only “cars let people, let me go, I like” prompt signs erected next to the zebra crossing, and at the crossroads there were also “comfortable zebra crossing”, “stop in the direction of the sign” and “cigarette butt does not fall”, etc. A huge public service advertisement.
On November 6, 2020, Ms. Ye from Wenling, Taizhou received a penalty decision letter issued by the traffic police: “Hello, you just crossed the zebra crossing while looking at your mobile phone. According to the “Taizhou Civilized Behavior Promotion Regulations”, we will give you a penalty. A fine of 10 yuan.”
According to Chen Yong, in order to ensure the efficiency of motor vehicle traffic, Taizhou has also optimized the areas with dense zebra crossings to ensure that there is only one zebra crossing within 200 meters, and a number of pedestrian bridges have been built.
“Now, the whole Taizhou has formed a social atmosphere in which cars are courteous to pedestrians and pedestrians pass quickly. Outsiders coming to Taizhou, under the influence of ears and eyes, will naturally also form habits. This is a process of blending.” Chen Yong said. (Reporters Liu Huang and Li Kunsheng)
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