Ministry puts yellow light rules on hold

Increased penalties for drivers running yellow lights have been put on hold by the Ministry of Public Security following nationwide protests after the regulation came into effect last Tuesday.

Traffic authorities across the country will not punish drivers running yellow lights for a period, but educate violators instead, according to a ministry statement on its website yesterday.

"Many people have given opinions and suggestions on the new regulation since it was carried out on January 1. The ministry has paid high attention to them and thanks the public for their concern," it added.

Under the new regulation, ignoring traffic lights results in six penalty points, double the previous punishment. If a driver receives 12 points in a year, they are required to attend a seven-day training session and have to take a written exam before they can get back on the road.

The ministry said it would remain open to reasonable suggestions regarding the new law. It also promised to announce more details regarding implementation of the revised regulation.

The main objection to the new rule is that drivers operating vehicles at normal speed would be unable to bring their vehicles to a full stop within seconds of seeing a yellow light.

In an online poll hosted by Sina Weibo, opponents of the regulation outnumbered supporters by almost 5 to 1, with over 40,000 people responding.

"The three lights serve their purposes respectively in accordance with the law. Treating a yellow light the same as a red one is unreasonable and could be legally contradictory," said Li Wei, chief lawyer at the Beijing Fada Law Office.

"There are so many intersections that do not have countdown screens to help drivers time their stops," said Wang Cheng, a law professor at Peking University.

However, the ministry said yesterday that the regulation had been effective in regulating driving behavior.

It said failure-to-stop cases dropped by 66 percent year on year during the first three days after the law came in.

Traffic authorities said if drivers slowed down as they approached an intersection and kept a safe distance from the vehicle in front there would be no danger.