The trend of private vehicles occupying lanes in violation of regulations is declining; violations are confirmed through manual screening.
Some key routes have installed bus surveillance cameras.
On September 1, the traffic management department of Beijing installed "traffic violation surveillance cameras" on buses operating on four major streets, including Chang'an Street and Sanmen Street, as well as 13 key routes. These cameras capture real-time images of private vehicles illegally entering bus lanes. Yesterday, the traffic management department of Beijing announced that as of yesterday, 71 cases of private vehicles violating bus lane rules had been confirmed.
Yesterday morning, the Traffic Management Bureau reported on the "duty" status of the bus surveillance cameras. Wang Lan, deputy director of the Technology Information Communication Department of the Traffic Management Bureau, introduced that compared to the same period in August, there was a downward trend in illegal occupation of bus lanes in September. Taking the eastbound bus lane at the Dongdan intersection on Chang'an Street as an example, from September 1 to September 4, the number of illegal occupations decreased by 86.7% compared to August 1 to August 4.
Manual screening prevents "misidentification" by the cameras.
Although the bus surveillance cameras record many instances of lane occupation, according to statistics from the Traffic Management Bureau up to yesterday, only 71 violations were penalized. Wang Lan explained that images captured by the bus surveillance cameras are not directly considered as violations. Each record of illegal lane occupation will have three consecutive frames transmitted back to the processing platform, where police officers analyze the trajectory of the violating vehicle in the images to determine the violation facts. "Our police officers will screen these records and eliminate vehicles that do not meet the criteria for violations."
Furthermore, Wang Lan stated that when drivers handle their fines, the police officer will inform them if the violation was recorded by the bus surveillance camera. If the driver has objections to the penalty, they can file an appeal at the traffic enforcement station and provide relevant evidence. After verification by the police officer, if it is deemed reasonable, the penalty can be revoked.
■ Scene
Luxury cars often violate bus lanes.
At around 3 PM yesterday, vehicles were traveling along Chang'an Street. At the Nanchiizi Street intersection, the yellow-lined bus lane was marked with signs prohibiting entry from 6 AM to 8 PM.
Suddenly, a BMW car sharply turned from the inner lane, crossing over the yellow line and speeding eastward. The bus following behind it had to brake suddenly.
It is understood that most surveillance cameras installed on buses are located near the front of the vehicle, capable of capturing images of nearby violating vehicles. To avoid being photographed, some vehicles choose to force their way into other lanes, using the vehicles behind them as cover while driving in the dedicated lane. When the rear vehicle switches back to the regular road, it causes a series of sudden lane changes, increasing the danger on the road.
According to Officer Shao, who was on duty at the Nanchiizi intersection, since September 1st, she has witnessed the changes after the installation of surveillance cameras on buses. "Violations have decreased somewhat, but there are still some drivers who insist on violating." Officer Shao said that due to the higher number of police forces on Chang'an Street, violations were originally less obvious. The installation of surveillance cameras on buses has addressed the difficulty in obtaining evidence during on-site law enforcement by traffic police.