A man who gets things moving

Related video: A man who gets things moving

With almost 5 million cars on the road and climbing, a traffic cop's shift is never over, Wang Wen reports

A draft plan to relax the capital's traffic gridlock was released on Dec 13 and is already firing up chatter from the millions of car owners concerned. But drivers are not the only group affected, as the general public is also following the news with concerns over the future of their city. One group often forgotten, however, is Beijing's traffic police, mostly responsible for taking the blame from angry motorists caught up in the jams. METRO followed Zhang Haijun, a senior traffic police officer with the Jinsong branch of the Chaoyang traffic police group, for a day on the roads.

6:30 am: The day begins

Most days, Zhang has to get up by 6:30 am to make sure he can arrive at his road section before 7 am. Once a week though, he stays in the dorm in the office building to prepare for his weekly evening shift.

On this morning, the traffic situation in the early morning is good and Zhang makes the journey to Dajiaoting Bridge, where he works in the morning, from his home in 15 minutes.

7 am to 9 am: Morning peak

In order to relieve the traffic jam during the morning rush time, all traffic police in the city, including office workers, are asked to work on the road before 9 am.

Zhang's responsibility is to manage the stream of traffic under the Dajiaoting Bridge in the Fourth Ring Road.

By Dec 19, there were as many as 4.76 million vehicles on the roads in the city and traffic jams were rampant.

In addition to managing the vehicles, Zhang keeps an eye on bicycles and pedestrians since anything can spark a problem on the road during peak time. Zhang says he handles two or three minor collisions every morning.

"My main aim is to keep the traffic flow moving," Zhang says.

As a traffic policeman with more than 18 years of experience, Zhang says he was first attracted to the job in middle school because of the uniform.

9 am to noon: Normal work, lunch

The rest of the shift is calm and by noon, Zhang heads back to the office for a rest. His walkie-talkie sits on his desk and constantly shouts out orders for other officers, but since none are for Zhang, he falls asleep.

"This is to make sure I am available any time they need more people to work," Zhang says. Because of lack of human resources, all officers in the branch have to be on standby all the time.

"Having a holiday is a dream I never waste time on," Zhang says, adding that he should have access to at least one month of vacation time every year. But he never did.

"I appreciate one day off a week," says Zhang, who once worked continuously for five days in 2008.

Only about 800 traffic policemen work in Chaoyang district, the largest district in downtown Beijing with an area of 476 square kilometers.

"This is 10 times the size of the new Dongcheng district, but we have the same amount of human resources," says Sun Hao, deputy director of the Chaoyang traffic police group.

Excluding office workers and some policemen who deal with large accidents, only about 400 policemen work on the roads, according to Sun.

He adds that with a shortage of workers, most officers have to sacrifice their rest periods and few can even enjoy a standard weekend.

Noon to 4 pm: Afternoon patrol

After a simple lunch at the canteen, Zhang rushes by car to his afternoon road section on the Fifth Ring Road.

Even in transit to his destination, Zhang stops a lorry near the Fourth Ring Road - it is not allowed to run inside the Fifth Ring Road after 6 am.

"It is my main responsibility to deal with lorries on the afternoon shift," Zhang says.

He drives his car along the 15-kilometer section again and again, clocking up more than 80 kilometers every day.

Despite the mileage, Zhang says he can only deal with about 10 lorries daily out of a total he estimates is closer to 80.

"The 100-yuan penalty does not stop the lorries from using the road," Zhang says.

Since most lorries are passing through the capital to other cities, they are required to pay to take the Sixth Ring Road.

"The Fifth Ring Road can help them save much more than the penalty incurs," Zhang says.

Zhang puts up barriers to catch lorries with his colleagues. They close the exit of one road and catch more than 20 lorries in only two hours, but a lack of human resources means this can't happen every day.

During his patrol, Zhang notices a traffic accident on the opposite lane, with a jam that has already reached 100 meters in length.

When he arrives, Zhang uses a fluorescent baton to stop vehicles creeping through the gap and heads to the incident.

"A heavy traffic flow is dangerous for officers," Zhang says.

"Once, my baton was broken because a vehicle did not stop."

The accident involves a light truck and there is glass on the ground. Zhang assesses the situation and decides to ask another truck to drag the lighter truck aside.

During the five minutes he is dealing with the accident, at least 10 vehicles pass through on the slip lane, reserved for emergencies.

He stops another five vehicles breaking the rules, but since some drivers are unaware of why, Zhang explains it to them.

"It is dangerous. If the accident needs an ambulance, they cannot arrive because the emergency line is full of vehicles," Zhang says.

4 pm to 7 pm: Paperwork, dinner

Zhang first washes his face in his dorm, to clean off a heavy layer of dust, before sitting down to record the traffic violations he has witnessed over the day.

Before going for food, Zhang takes some medicine to treat his throat.

"It is too dry and dirty on the road," Zhang explains. "I have had a sore throat for a long time."

7 pm: Shift ends

When there is no evening shift, Zhang can go home. He usually eats dinner at the canteen because the journey home can take almost an hour.

"I am also a regular person affected by the traffic problem," Zhang says.

7 pm to 10 pm: Evening shift

The evening rush of traffic is still heavy at 7 pm when Zhang's late shift starts.

"Our target during peak times is always the same - to keep the traffic flowing," he says.

He notes that there is a higher incidence of drunk driving after dinner, so Zhang works with his colleagues to set up barriers for random checks.

They put the barrier only on sections of road that have hard edges, because some drunk drivers will try to escape if there is a gap. This can be lethal.

A series of moves by the local government, that started last year to reduce drunk driving, are starting to pay off. However, since the actions are primarily fines, some drivers are now trying hard to evade capture.

"Once a man ran away, leaving his car and even his mobile phone," Zhang says. "It might seem funny, but it is also dangerous."

Zhang's group does not catch any drunk drivers that night, but it doesn't stop his colleagues continuing to check the streets until midnight.