Driving courtesy makes zebra crossing so difficult?

Measured motor vehicle comity zebra crossing at the reporter's intersection

  ● Illegal behaviors of impolite pedestrians when motorized vehicles cross the zebra crossing occur from time to time.

According to statistics from the Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security in 2017, there were an average of thousands of motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic accidents on zebra crossings across the country each year in the previous three years.

  ● The Road Traffic Safety Law has clear regulations on the courtesy of pedestrians, which shows that the rules for the distribution of road rights are very clear and clear, and the life and health of people cannot be infringed in the name of traffic efficiency.

  ● On the one hand, it is necessary to reasonably set up clear and eye-catching crosswalks to remind drivers to slow down; on the other hand, it is necessary to strictly enforce the law, and to investigate violations of the law, and increase the responsibility for violations; at the same time, it is necessary to cultivate the driver’s awareness of observing the law

  □ Reporter Chen Lei

  □ Our newspaper trainee reporter Sun Tianjiao

  At 9 o'clock in the morning on November 26, on the side of the intersection of Guangshun Street and Futong West Street in Chaoyang District, Beijing, a black Volkswagen car quickly turned right and rubbed against a man wearing a brown down jacket walking on a zebra crossing And pass.

The man was rather dissatisfied with the car's practice of not slowing down and not giving way.

  On the same day, the reporter of the "Rule of Law Daily" watched the intersection for an hour. In total, more than 160 motor vehicles turned right. Most of the motor vehicles were able to slow down or stop waiting for pedestrians to pass, especially the buses all stopped in front of the zebra crossing. Courtesy was given, but there were also more than a dozen private cars that did not give courtesy to pedestrians.

  According to the relevant provisions of the Road Traffic Safety Law, motor vehicles must be courteous to pedestrians when crossing a zebra crossing. Motor vehicle drivers who violate the law shall be given a warning or a fine of not less than 20 yuan but not more than 200 yuan.

This means that it is illegal for a motor vehicle to pass the zebra crossing without courtesy of pedestrians.

  However, reporters’ recent investigations and visits in Beijing, Tianjin and other places found that traffic violations such as motor vehicles not showing courtesy to pedestrians and robbing pedestrians when crossing zebra crossings have occurred from time to time.

According to statistics from the Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security in 2017, there were an average of thousands of motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic accidents on zebra crossings across the country each year in the previous three years.

  Experts interviewed by reporters believe that the root cause of this phenomenon lies in the low probability of penalties for violations and the low cost of violations.

In fact, the existing laws already have very clear regulations on the issue of motor vehicle courtesy zebra crossings, but it needs to be further improved and strengthened at the operational level, especially strict law enforcement, violations must be investigated, and violations of the law are aggravated.

At the same time, it is necessary to cultivate the driver's awareness of observing the law.

There are fewer violations but still exist

When you encounter pedestrians, you can't avoid letting you gallop away

  At 5 pm on November 27, it was getting darker.

Ms. Zhu, a citizen of Beijing in her 50s, came to the intersection of Nanhu South Road and Nanhu Zhongyuan in Chaoyang District, and was about to buy cakes from an "old brand" across the road.

  At this time, the traffic volume was low and the green light was on. Ms. Zhu stepped on the zebra crossing to cross the road. A white motor vehicle happened to be approaching.

The car slowed down gradually and stopped in front of the zebra crossing. After Ms. Zhu walked past, it started and turned right.

  Ms. Zhu told reporters that she often passed this T-shaped intersection. In the morning and evening rush hours, the traffic flow was relatively large. There were vehicles turning right one after another. Many drivers did not have the consciousness of being courteous to pedestrians. Sometimes they had to wait at the intersection after the green light was on. It's going to be enough for a while.

Recently, she has clearly felt that more and more drivers are consciously courteous to pedestrians, especially bus drivers, who will take the initiative to stop and signal pedestrians to go first.

  "Of course, there are still some drivers who have no intention of avoiding or being courteous, and they don't slow down when encountering pedestrians." Ms. Zhu said that this kind of impolite behavior is neither civilized nor safe.

  The reporter then observed the intersection for about 10 minutes.

During the 10 minutes, the traffic lights changed 5 times, the traffic flow and the flow of people were not large, there were 20 right-turning vehicles, and 2 of them turned right directly without slowing down and stopping courteously when encountering pedestrians.

  Similar situations are happening at many intersections.

  Public information shows that from 0:00 on August 11 this year, the "electronic police" guarding zebra crossings at Beijing intersections formally started law enforcement work. As of 14:00 on the same day, 120 cases of motor vehicles impolite zebra crossings have been captured and recorded.

In addition, from mid-August to early September, Beijing Traffic Management's "Shishoupai" applet received 634 valid clues for citizens' impolite behavior in zebra crossings.

  On the afternoon of November 28, the reporter observed at the zebra crossing at the south gate of Tianyi Community, Jizhou District, Tianjin, and found that there were a lot of vehicles and pedestrians on the road at that time. As there were no traffic lights, some motorized vehicles were scrambling to go straight or turn left. , Not courteous to pedestrians, and even rushing with pedestrians, pedestrians can only tentatively move forward cautiously.

  At the intersection of Guangshun Street and Futong West Street in Chaoyang District, there are many office buildings, large supermarkets, and subway stations nearby, so there is a lot of traffic and people.

Mr. Wang, who has lived in nearby communities for more than 10 years, told reporters that during the morning and evening rush hours, motor vehicles still do not give way to pedestrians and rush with pedestrians. He has also seen quarrels between drivers and pedestrians. However, this kind of uncivilized behavior has indeed been greatly reduced in the past two years, and everyone's safety awareness and rule awareness have improved."

  When the reporter stayed to observe, he also saw a warm scene. A father took his second-grade child across the road and faced a courteous vehicle. The father waved his hand and the child stood up and saluted.

The child told the reporter that the teacher in school taught them that they should salute to the driver if they encounter a vehicle giving way on the road.

The right of way distribution rules are clear and clear

The probability of penalties is small and the cost of illegality is low

  Several drivers admitted in interviews with reporters that they acted impolitely at zebra crossings when driving.

The reasons for impropriety include “the rules for commissary zebra crossings for motor vehicles are not clear”, “follow the vehicle in front”, “hurry up”, “believe that there is no danger if there is a certain distance from pedestrians at that time”.

  In fact, in recent years, traffic accidents caused by motor vehicles impolite zebra crossings are not uncommon, and some have even paid the price of their lives.

  Fuzhou City, Fujian Province reported that on November 3 this year, 38-year-old Li Mouyan drove a small car from Xiamen to Zhangzhou City to the No. 1 corner, but did not stop and comity, and collided with the pedestrian Chen Moujin who was crossing the zebra crossing. , Causing Chen Moujin's death on the spot and partial damage to the vehicle.

  In August 2020, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province exposed 3 typical cases of improper zebra crossing accidents.

One of the cases is that on July 20 of that year, when Hong Moping was driving a small car along the intersection of Fengshan Street, Wucheng District, Jinhua City, he collided with pedestrian Jin who was crossing the zebra crossing, causing Jin to be injured.

  According to statistics from the Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security in 2017, there were 14,000 motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic accidents on zebra crossings across the country in the previous three years, resulting in 3898 deaths, of which accidents caused by motor vehicles not giving way in accordance with regulations accounted for 90% of the total.

  Article 47 of the Road Traffic Safety Law clearly stipulates that when a motor vehicle is passing a crosswalk, it should slow down; when a pedestrian is passing a crosswalk, it should stop and give way.

When a motor vehicle passes on a road without traffic signals, it shall avoid pedestrians when crossing the road.

  Zheng Xiang, an associate professor at the Law School of Beijing Jiaotong University and vice president of the Beijing Transportation Law Research Association, told reporters that the regulation of motor vehicle comity to pedestrians is essentially an issue of the distribution of rights of way.

From the perspective of humanistic care, the disadvantaged group-pedestrians, should be protected. Motor vehicles running at high speeds imply risks that endanger social public safety, and their rights of way need to be restricted.

  But in reality, illegal behaviors of motor vehicles failing to court zebra crossings frequently occur.

Zheng Xiang believes that the fundamental reason lies in the low probability of penalties for violations and the low cost of violations.

  "Any violation of the law requires the cost of law enforcement to be considered. Can every crosswalk be monitored? Can every behavior that is not courteous be punished? Is the ratio of law enforcement costs and the social benefits of courtesy pedestrians reasonable? These all need to be considered. Whether drivers can be universally courteous to pedestrians is related to the level of urban civilization and the level of urban management." Zheng Xiang said.

  "Drivers are unwilling to abide by the rules of comity to pedestrians. The usual reason is that when the city is already extremely congested, the motor vehicle must give comity to pedestrians, which may aggravate road traffic congestion and reduce traffic efficiency. Moreover, there are many pedestrians who do not comply with traffic in practice. Rules, running red lights at will, jumping over hurdles and crossing the road, etc., make it too late for drivers to be courteous to pedestrians." Zheng Xiang said, but these are not reasons for impoliteness.

  Zheng Xiang believes that, compared with traffic efficiency, protecting the lives of pedestrians, respecting and protecting people are the most basic traffic ethics.

The Road Traffic Safety Law has clear regulations on the courtesy of pedestrians, which shows that the rules for the distribution of rights of way are very clear and cannot infringe on people's lives and health in the name of traffic efficiency.

In addition, drivers should always be alert to road conditions and be ready to respond to emergencies, especially when pedestrians are passing through.

Pedestrians are usually slower, and if the driver reacts in a timely manner, there will be enough time to be courteous to pedestrians.

The operational level needs to be improved and strengthened

The habit of courtesy needs to be cultivated urgently

  As early as March 2018, the Ministry of Public Security issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Strengthening the Management of Motor Vehicle Discomfort Zebra Crossings" to promote the development of motor vehicle discomfort zebra crossing management across the country and establish a normal and long-term governance mechanism to ensure that the people Travel safely and smoothly.

  Based on this, local public security traffic management departments further exposed typical cases of impolite violations, promoted key vehicles such as buses, taxis, and official vehicles to take the lead in comity, and at the same time strengthened the governance of pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles running red lights and other illegal behaviors, and organized rectification actions in a timely manner.

  Zheng Xiang believes that in order to comply with traffic laws, the laws must first be clear, clear and operable.

On the issue of comity for pedestrians, the existing laws are already very clear, and what needs to be improved is the operational level.

  Her suggestion is: On the one hand, set clear and eye-catching crosswalks reasonably to remind drivers to slow down.

Advanced intelligent transportation facilities can be introduced. There is already an intelligent intersection facility abroad. Once someone steps on the crosswalk, the projection will be triggered, and the motor vehicle driver will see the crosswalk turn into a three-dimensional guardrail, prompting them to subconsciously slow down.

  "On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen strict law enforcement, violations must be investigated, and the responsibility for violations must be increased. At the same time, it is also necessary to cultivate drivers' awareness of observing the law. This requires extensive publicity of the basic rules of road rights distribution and traffic ethics, and the promotion of civilized traffic concepts. "Zheng Xiang said.

  Liu Aijun, associate professor of Beijing Vocational College of Political Science and Law, also believes that publicity and education should be strengthened to enhance the traffic safety awareness and civilized level of the whole society, so that everyone consciously abides by and implements the comity zebra crossing system.

At the same time, it is necessary to introduce advanced technical means, such as the setting of signal lights to prevent traffic intersections, and to separate motor vehicles turning and pedestrians going straight through traffic signals.

  “Punishing motor vehicle drivers who disrespect pedestrians is a necessary means to urge them to comply with the law. However, technical and other flexible means can also be used to make everyone realize that courtesy of the zebra crossing is for their own safety as well as the safety of others. The civilized level of the entire society has prompted motor vehicle drivers to form the habit of consciously courting zebra crossings, rather than being forced to be courteous for fear of being punished." Liu Aijun said.

  "It is necessary and necessary for motor vehicles to be courteous to pedestrians, but it needs to be further refined and clarified." Master Zhang, who has been driving online car-hailing in Beijing for many years, said with deep feeling. The recommendations at the level are highly agreed.

  He told reporters about his "grief" - one day in October this year, he turned right to the southwest of Dongzhimen Bridge. When the car reached the zebra crossing, he saw a person standing on the zebra crossing next to the road. He waved his hand to the man and motioned to the other person to go first, but "the other person has no response and has no intention to cross the road".

  Master Zhang continued to drive, but was stopped by law enforcement officers.

Law enforcement officials said he did not court the zebra crossing.

Master Zhang said that he was courteous, and he only left when he saw pedestrians not going.

It just so happened that the dash cam did not turn on that day, and he couldn't dispute it.

In the end, he was fined 200 yuan and deducted 3 points.

  "There are still some'head downers' who are standing still at the intersection and looking at their phones after the green light is on for a long time. Is it possible to use information technology to form dynamic management and control, clarify the situation of impoliteness, and don't make the driver too'wrong'." Zhang The master said.

  Manga / Takaoka