On April 13, Foshan traffic police said the actual number of reported violations was 184,383 as of April 2, far less than the alleged 620,000. The police said that traffic cams had helped to more than halve the annual number of traffic accidents in that location from 85 to 39, while reducing the number of people injured due to accidents from 13 to 3.
But the explanation did little to appease public anger, as the new figure is still extremely high. The camera was installed on March 8, 2020, and 475 violations were reported a day. As a ticket typically costs a driver 200 yuan (US$31), it means just this one camera installed at one junction generated some 37 million yuan (US$5.6m) in revenue for local police.
Most of the fines were for changing lanes. Many Foshan drivers complained that unclear signage meant they could not enter the turn lane in time, forcing them to cross the solid white lines between lanes. This had led to repeated fines. In addition, three points are deducted from a license with each infraction – losing 12 points in a year means a suspended license.
Foshan police said later they have improved road signage and painted dotted lines to guide vehicles at that junction.
Han Deyun, a Chongqing-based lawyer and delegate to the National People’s Congress (NPC), has been a long-time critic of police abuses of digital surveillance devices, raising the issue during the annual NPC session in Beijing in March. According to Han, even though annual fines meted out by traffic police in 2020 amounted to 300 billion yuan (US$46.2b), equivalent to about 1,000 yuan (US$154) per vehicle, there is no effective public supervision of the police over either the law enforcement practices or how they use the money raised through fines.
There are no accurate publicly available figures on the amounts of fines levied. The figures Han cited come from a spreadsheet detailing the amount of traffic fines in each province, which started circulating on social media in January. It was widely cited and discussed by media and experts, and authorities never denied or confirmed the data it provided.
“The use of digital police devices in recent years makes it easy for traffic police to detect traffic violations,” Han told NewsChina, “but without effective regulation and supervision, this increased efficiency can be easily abused.”
The use of surveillance cameras to enforce traffic law in China started in 1997, when a new law allowing their use went into effect. But there has been rapid growth in these “digital police devices” in recent years. On April 4, 2009, the Ministry of Public Security issued a decree requiring local police to publicize the location of surveillance devices, although the requirement itself is vague. This means it is enforced in different ways in difference places, although many cities have since revealed the number and location of cameras that are already in place or will be installed.
In 2009, Beijing police said it had installed 2,178 traffic surveillance devices. The figure almost quadrupled within four years to 8,368 in 2013. Since then, Beijing police have not updated the total number of traffic surveillance devices citywide. Based on periodic announcements, 9,145 additional traffic surveillance devices were installed between March 2020 and March 2021 alone.
As there is no established legal procedure regarding the installation and management of surveillance devices, there is no check on cities that aggressively expand their surveillance networks. Although police are required by law to reveal when and where they are installing traffic cams, the regulation is poorly enforced. When the information is available, the sheer number of surveillance cameras is overwhelming.
Local governments’ enthusiasm for surveillance systems led to a boom in the sector. According to a report by newsijie.com, an industrial consulting group, the market for digital police equipment in China amounted to 13.2 billion yuan (US$2.4b) in 2019.