Students ignore campus traffic lights

Over 80 percent of pedestrians strolling through the campus of the Wuhan-based Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province, are ignoring traffic lights that have been recently set up at the school's two busiest intersections, the Wuhan Evening News reported Wednesday.

The traffic lights on the massive campus are in operation between 7 am to 9 pm, but at one traffic light only 40 of 220 pedestrian stopped for a red light over a 10-minute period. Only two of the 70 vehicles that passed the intersection during the same period ran the red light, said the newspaper.

"The lights have just come into service this semester and it takes time for students and teachers to get used to them," a staff member at the university's security department, who declined to be identified, told the Global Times, adding that traffic control on campus has improved.

Pu Qi, professor with the Urban Mass Transit Railway Research Institute at Tongji University, told the Global Times that traffic lights on campus can play a positive role in helping students form good traffic habits and maintain the school's traffic order.

"High frequency traffic violations are due to the public's lack of road safety awareness," Pu added.

Eighty percent of all traffic accidents that result in deaths are caused by pedestrians, the Beijing Evening News reported.

"Current fines are too low to deter the violations, and pedestrians are more likely to act as a group in ignoring the rules. They will be further emboldened once they successfully cross the road against a red light and no punishment is given to them," said Pu.

The law on road traffic safety, effective 2004, stipulates that pedestrians who run a red light can be fined 50 yuan ($8).

Pu also noted it is crucial to raise awareness of traffic safety in order to cultivate good habits.