Editor’s note: This article refers to a modern phenomenon or group of people called “paike” (拍客) in Chinese, whereby ordinary people use either their cell phones, camcorders or other recording equipment to document anything from traffic offenses to weird situations, and then upload the footage on the internet or share it with a third party. Since there’s no direct translation for the word “paike” in English, the article below will simply refer to these people as “whistleblowers”, for the sake of convenience.  
 

 

Last year, Wuhan implemented a rewards system for those who reported traffic offenses. What that system ultimately ended up creating was a force of “whistleblowers” – consisting of several hundred – who strove to go out and document these offenses in their own time. As a result, a total of 50 million RMB was awarded over the course of one year. In recent years, Shanghai and Guangzhou both got rid of this so-called “unofficial traffic warden” system. However, a staff member of the Wuhan Municipal Traffic Management Department recently stated that Wuhan plans to continue implementing this awards system, claiming that there’s no doubt it will help expand the city’s army of professional “whistleblowers” and that the system has reaped phenomenal results in terms of curbing traffic offenses.

15 offenses recorded in 10 minutes

At 8:00am on the 26th February, a journalist went to the Yuejiazui pedestrian bridge in Wuchang District together with a “whistleblower” called Xiao Zhang. Everything about Xiao Zhang’s actions – from the way he took off the camera lens to the way he held the camera and pointed it towards the oncoming traffic – exuded a sense of professionalism.

Under the bridge, a taxi made an illegal u-turn on double yellow lines, slowing down oncoming traffic and causing dangerous driving conditions on all sides. “You have to zoom in really quickly if you want to get the number plate; sometimes you have to quickly zoom-out to a long-shot to capture the surrounding street signs,” Xiao Zhang explained to the journalist.

A moment later, yet another car in the underpass drove in the counter direction of oncoming traffic, and not long after that a Citroen saloon car mindlessly changed lanes and began overtaking other cars… Meanwhile, Xiao Zhang quickly pressed a button on the camera and clearly documented each consecutive traffic violation. Despite the traffic police in the distance, the journalist noticed that a large number of drivers didn’t seem to see the warning lines. In 10 short minutes, Xiao Zhang effortlessly documented 15 cars who committed traffic offenses.

“If you want to film vehicles running red lights, then you have to stand by the stop line and film for there. You have to be fixated on that stop line and remember to always get the plate number of the cars that run the red light,” Xiao Zhang revealed. He explained that in the past he had shot footage of cars running red lights that were later disregarded by the traffic police because they lacked certain key things like the buildings in the surrounding area or traffic signs on that stretch etc. So slowly but surely, Xiao Zhang began learning from his mistakes and gaining experience, little by little understanding the tricks of the trade. Usually he chooses tall buildings or overpasses, using the windows or rails as his cover. He either places his camcorder on a tripod or holds it directly in his hands, hidden under some clothes or a newspaper; so in case he spots a traffic violator he can immediately turn on the camera and press the “record” button.

Xiao Zhang, who is 28 this year, works as a freelance “whistleblower”. Besides being able to earn money from the job, a bigger part of it has to do with his hatred towards reckless drivers: three years ago one of his good friends fell under the wheels of a driver who had run through red lights. “Some drivers are way too ruthless; they take advantage of the police not being able to see or just drive through red lights when they see that there are no traffic cameras at an intersection, thus endangering pedestrians’ lives,” Xiao Zhang exclaimed angrily.  

In order to get an even better result, Xiao Zhang has invested a lot of money into his equipment: his Sony hard disk recording camera cost 4000 RMB alone, and with the wide-angle lens, tripod and portable hard drive, his total spending came to about 7000 RMB. “I shoot a lot of footage every day so I also have to have a standby battery. I also have to edit every documented clip of traffic offenders.” In order to simultaneously record the time of each traffic offense, Xiao Zhang also specifically bought a computer and DVDATE software (which can help to embed datecode or timecode into a DV file).

“Professional whistleblowers” can earn 6000 RMB in one week

According to reports, since the system first went into effect last year, Wuhan has produced a force of over 100 “whistleblowers.” They’re concentrated in Wuhan’s ten easiest spots for committing traffic offenses, reaping the cash awards as they film traffic offenders in secret. At the very most, the team of “whistleblowers” expands to include over 600 people, many who come from other areas but have heard about the monetary gains. One person at Wuhan’s Traffic Management Bureau revealed that the system was originally introduced with the hope of capturing horrific cases like hit and run crimes; but in reality, the majority of reports that come in are of normal traffic violations.

Last year, 400,000 traffic violations were reported by whistleblowers, of which over 100,000 were accepted. All in all, the Traffic Management Bureau gave out 5 million RMB in awards. The Traffic Management Bureau revealed that 80% of violations filmed by these“unofficial traffic wardens” consist of drivers running red lights – usually taxis, public buses and vans arbitrarily running through red lights in the middle of the night. After that, the greatest number of offenses caught on camera are drivers who change lanes as they please and drive in the counter direction of oncoming traffic; these violations account for about 10%.

Is all the footage filmed by “whistleblowers” useful?

A traffic policeman working at the reporting office explained that residents who submit report material must shoot clear footage and capture the whole scene. Staff members at the bureau carefully inspect the pieces of submitted footage, and as long as they firmly convinced of an offense, an award will be handed out. Last September, one whistleblower who filmed 200 cases of drivers running red lights in one week, was awarded 6000 RMB.

Because one can reap some big awards, a few key stretches in Wuhan where traffic violations easily occur, have since become a congregation ground for a large number of whistleblowers. Xiao Zhang explained that one time, he went to Hankou to take care of some matters when unexpectedly he came across a small road in Jiangan District where quite a lot of people ran red lights. As a result, he set off to start filming there. Little did he know however, that one middle-aged man had already found the spot before him, claiming that it had originally taken him several days to find this spot and that he’d been filming at this spot for one or two months already. “You’re capable of finding another spot for filming. Is there any need for you to come here and steal someone else’s?” As soon as he realized that the circumstances were a little odd, Xiao Zhang immediately turned around and left.

The journalist soon learned that certain stretches of roads in Wuhan have been divided into so-called “colonies” by the “whistleblowers”. Normally, a “whistleblower” in Wuchang would never go to Qingshan to film, and someone from Hankou would never go Hanyang. Of course, there are “whistleblowers” who get into brutal fights for the sake of winning over territory. However these kinds of people mainly come from outside the city who just come to earn more money and as a result, often get into disputes with locals over filming spots.
 

Source: News.sohu.com
 

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Keywords: paike China traffic report awards Wuhan traffic violations Wuhan paike Wuhan Wuhan whistleblowers