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Jaywalkers to lose credit scores?
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Pedestrians in Shenzhen who disobey traffic signals and commit other road misconduct offenses may soon have points deducted from their credit scores.
According to reports, authorities are building a personal credit-rating system which they plan to share with several private trust institutions. Traffic rule violators, including those who cross the street when the light is red, could see their credit rating to have demerits as punishment. This is bad news for jaywalkers, who may find it harder to get a loan or obtain social services once this plan goes into affect.
Personally, though, I have my doubts about this new plan. First of all, if the new credit system covers only Shenzhen citizens, out-of-towners, visitors and migrants to the city would have little to fear. And if locals are the only ones suffering under the new regime, this means they could face much harsher consequences than outsiders for the same offense.
Secondly, the punishment is not appropriate to the offense. For many pedestrians and cyclists in China, ignoring red lights is a trivial matter. But having a less-than-perfect credit score could have an extremely detrimental impact on life. As many know, even minor credit-rating blemishes can seriously hamper one’s ability to secure financing on a home, obtain schooling for one’s children or apply for a change of residency.
In addition, what about punishments against Shenzhen’s motorists? Will they be subject to the same rules? So far officials have offered no clarity on these questions. But compared with pedestrians or bikers skipping across the street, running red lights in a car is a much more serious offence. Will traffic officials in Shenzhen be as eager to tarnish the creditworthiness of law-breaking drivers?
There are also questions about the legal grounds for this new policy. As we know, none of existing Chinese laws on road traffic and safety says anything about jaywalkers losing credit points. State laws say jaywalkers are only subject to warnings or fines. Records from the Shenzhen People’s Congress also show no specific legislation has been made which would support the policy.
But measures like those being planned in Shenzhen are nothing new. Traffic police around the country have hit upon all kinds of “unique” ways to curb jaywalking.
In Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, for instance, traffic police will inform employers when their workers have been caught jaywalking. Already law experts have expressed reservations about the legitimacy of such innovations.
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