Two deadly traffic accidents occurred at the same cross street near Ma Hang Chung Road in To Kwa Wan within two months. One of the victims was a 79 years woman who was hit by a minibus while she was crossing the road with her little cart. She was dragged under the minibus and her legs were crushed by the rolling wheels, but the driver did not notice what happened until someone flapped his window after he had driven for another 10 meters from the accident point. The tragedy aroused my attention to road safety. I was wondering how the accident come about. Here are two possibilities: either the old woman was a jaywalker or the driver ran the red light. No matter which one is the fact, the accident is caused by regardless of traffic regulations. Residents have to realize the importance of following the rules in order to keep their life in safe. Education is the best way to reinforce people’s awareness of road safety.

A statistic from the Transport department reveals that there are 3840 cases of Hong Kong passerby injured or dead in traffic accident in 2011. Living in a hustle and bustle city like Hong Kong, not many people like to waste their precious time on waiting for traffic light. Tongji University of Shanhai had conducted a survey about the local passerby waiting time of traffic light in 2007. They found that the maximum time is 90 seconds. Comparing to German’s 60 seconds and British’s 45 seconds, Chinese seems to have better obedience; however, they will ignore the traffic light and cross the road as long as the maximum tolerance time passed. Apart from the waste of time, people think it is stupid that you stop walking yet there is no car passing by. Why do we have to observe them when it is not possible to be in danger? Moreover, the herb behavior of passerby encourages more people dare to break the rules. A popular term called the ‘Chinese-style of jaywalking’ digs at the undisciplined Chinese who share a common consensus that people can cross the road in anytime if there is a crowd of passerby. This situation is not specific to China as we can also see it in Monkok and other downtown in Hong Kong. It is obvious that people are lacking in the consciousness of crisis.

We can see that the most vital key to the disciplinary of people is exactly the decision of themselves. Their impatient, pride and herb behavior are the reasons of transgressing the traffic rules which are involving mostly the human factor. Hence, it is no doubt that changing people’s thoughts and behaviors towards the issue is the priority in solving the problem. The most effective way to change one’s mind must be education. It can be implemented in primary school and secondary school since kids are easy to be influenced so the education should be started in young ages. Nevertheless, the education should not be not just for students but also for their parents. A news from the internet said that a mother did not allow her little boy to wait for the green light and dragged him cross the road under the red light. Professor Mei Zhi Gang of Sociology in Huazhong Normal University indicated that teaching by word and deed of parents is very essential to children. It is not convincing to child when adult cannot be a good example. It is necessary to enhance the education to the public for the sake of preventing accident.

Many people think it is no need to treat traffic rule seriously. It is a piece of cake as everyone knows it. Actually, we have over twenty thousands of people are accused of violating traffic rules in every year. Do you know you could be charged for 2000 dollars fine with breaking the rules? If no, stop saying you are well-educated! Besides, the aspects that are covered in the education should not be just about the rules and penalty, but also emphasize on what are the good manners of being a disciplined passerby as well as the danger of road. Also, People are encouraged to share their experiences through talks and gatherings. The government should publish more educational TV programs and advertisement so that people can receive such kind of messages in multiple ways. People should perceive the whole situation and consider more about the road safety thoroughly through education.

Someone argues that strengthen the penalty is more efficient in reducing jaywalking because it can make people scare to be punished. Yes, it does. However, the actual implementation is quite difficult. It is impossible to supervise all the people in anywhere and anytime which will need a huge number of man power. On the other hand, if there are plenty of jaywalkers that are crossing the road at the same time under the red light, should the police catch all of them or just part of the offenders? The former choice is not possible and the latter one will result in unfairness. In addition, over rigid regulation may cause resistance from people. In Zhejiang province, some people attacked the police because he asked them to pay for improperly crossing the road. Therefore the government should put more effort on educating people about the matter of disciplinary and how it protects our life so that they will observe the rules voluntarily. More importantly, education is the only way that helps us get to know more about the penalties.

How about improving the entire transport system and also installing monitoring devices? Expensive cost for installation and maintenance will create another a big problem. Do you think it is possible to set up monitors at all the traffic light? Even if it works, it still needs someone else to check through all the videos which seem like a kind of mission impossible.

Whether to follow the rule or not, it is very much depends on people’s will. That is why we should make efforts in education. People should interpret they have the obligation to obey the regulation. Of course they should understand the content of the rules including the penalties. We should also realize the reasons of following those rules. Precaution is the insurance of our safety, otherwise you will regret when the same tragedy happens to you or your loved ones.

Sources of examples/statistics:

Transportation Department

-Road safety-Road user’s code

http://www.td.gov.hk/en/road_safety/road_users_code/index.html

South China Morning Post

Cracking down Jaywalkers in Zhejiang province in China

Daniel Ren

06 April, 2013

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1208119/crackdown-jaywalkers-zhejiang-province-china

South China Morning Post