OPINION> Commentary
Wrong way to show courtesy
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-18 07:31

It is necessary to enhance road safety awareness, but advocating mutual courtesy by vehicles and pedestrians at zebra stripes is really a bad idea, says an article in Procuratorial Daily. The following is an excerpt:

Traffic police in Zhengzhou of Henan province recently launched a publicity campaign calling for pedestrians and vehicles to yield to each other at crosswalks, as part of the efforts to improve traffic order and develop the city as a national, civilized city.

Generally speaking, it is absolutely necessary to strengthen safety awareness of both passersby and drivers, especially at zebra stripes where accidents tend to happen. But zebra stripes are just the wrong place to impose a courtesy obligation on pedestrians.

Frankly, many Chinese drive with bad manners and carelessness, even at crosswalks. On the other hand, pedestrians often turn relaxed at the zebra stripes.

Nothing wrong with pedestrians. According to the Law on Road Traffic Safety, a motor vehicle should slow down and give way to people who are passing the crosswalks if there is no traffic signal.

Obviously, drivers are the only ones to blame for accidents happened around the zebra stripes, and what we should do is strengthen education for them with relevant regulations.

So the police in Zhengzhou should not encourage pedestrians to give way to motor drivers at the zebra stripes. The one-side legal responsibility should not be changed to a two-way one. And the problem of legal responsibility should not be changed to a moral one by stressing the so-called mutual courtesy.

(China Daily 07/18/2008 page8)