Traffic rule violations unrelated to creditworthiness

Traffic grinds to a standstill during the peak rush hour on Monday morning, Sept 22, 2014 near Liujiayao Bridge, Third Ring Road South. [Photo/Agencies]

The traffic authorities in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, are considering a system togther with various credit bureaus in which all traffic rule violations, including jaywalking, would be kept on record and used to lower offenders' credit ratings when applying for a mortgage. Comments:

Indeed, applying the bad records of traffic rule violators to their personal credit assessments, could, to some extent, urge people to abide by the regulations, since their personal interests would be involved. To reduce the number of jaywalkers, the Shenzhen traffic management officials need to establish a punishment mechanism that gives full play to such a credit-rating system without abusing it.

rednet.cn, Aug 31

The failure to prohibit jaywalking in many Chinese cities lies not in the lack of relevant regulations but in their flawed enforcement. In other words, local enforcers rarely impose due punishments on those who break the traffic rules. True, it is praiseworthy that the Shenzhen traffic police seek to put an end to the violation of traffic regulations, but they have to do so in a reasonable and legal manner. As much as citizens today are concerned with their creditworthiness, enforcers should not use it to threaten them to comply with the rules.

Chongqing Morning Post, Aug 31

Personal rights, such as the right to apply for a loan or buy a house, should never be abducted to correct people's minor misdemeanors. Jaywalking has little to do with a resident's creditworthiness. Thus binding them together for whatever purpose is not about innovating public governance, but about violating people's civil rights.

Chinese Business View, Aug 31

As an emerging social management method, any such credit law enforcement system must be set up on the basis of the rule of law, because it involves people's civil rights. Jaywalking does not constitute a serious violation of the traffic rules, and if it is included in the proposed system it should be done on solid legal ground. It is unfair for citizens to pay a high price for a trivial violations of traffic regulations, or when they are punished for the convenience of administrative management.

Information Times, Aug 31