PhD cop polices busy streets

His expertise has also helped him determine responsibility in a number of major accidents over the years.

"Wang has a strong sense of responsibility, and of the 17 officers in our brigade, he has solved the most cases by far," said Xu Ming, leader of the brigade, adding that the requirement for becoming a traffic officer is a college degree or higher, but that Wang is the only PhD graduate on the force. "The edge his PhD gives him in improving traffic is obvious," said Chang Shan, one of Wang's colleagues.

If cases involving hidden dangers he's uncovered are already closed, Wang sends suggestions for improvement to the Accident Prevention Brigade. He said they are generally adopted.

Jiangbei's Haier Road, a 20-km stretch crowded with trucks traveling between nearby businesses and Chongqing's free trade port, was once known as "death road" for the dozen-or-so fatalities and 1,000 to 1,500 accidents that happened along it every year.

In 2015, Wang proposed a series of road improvements. By adding overpasses, central green belts, road lights and speedtrap cameras, the number of accidents was brought down significantly to between 400 and 600 each year, and fatalities were reduced to under five.

Last year, similar improvements were made to Beibinyi Road, where people like to stroll after meals on the riverside footpath. Wang said that previously, four pedestrians had been killed while crossing the road, but there have been none since the improvements.

On top of suggesting improvements and helping eliminate road dangers, Wang has published five academic papers during his 11 years in the traffic police, three of which are listed in the Science Citation Index, which was originally published by the Institute for Scientific Information.

He has also obtained six traffic safety patents. One for a device used to identify an emergent lane change or braking by the vehicle in front is being used by a car safety testing institution in Xi'an.

Wang said that last year, four Jiangbei residents died in traffic accidents in older residential areas, all of them open communities with hidden dangers, particularly for the young and the elderly－children running across community roads, older people lacking traffic awareness, and drivers not driving or parking according to regulations. He plans to thoroughly research the communities to improve internal traffic and parking regulations.

In addition, he is also working on a mechanism to prevent traffic accidents through statistical analysis.

"Life is not only about good jobs and high salaries," Wang said. "For me, study and research are like air and water, and they give me more enjoyment."