A highly educated young woman crossed a street in Shanghai where she was not supposed to and was stopped by the police. Several times she pushed back the cop who tried to slap her with a 50-yuan penalty for jaywalking.

The scene was videotaped and has been on the air many times in the past week.

The woman, surnamed Liu, was eventually detained for 10 days for "interfering with police duties." Media reports highlighted her background, noting she was educated overseas and holds a master's degree.

Liu apologized for her behaviour. But the public's outpouring of both scorn and sympathy might have surprised her.

Liu was said to be the first jaywalker in Shanghai to be fined. Like her own immediate reaction, many feel outraged that she was singled out for a minor traffic violation that hundreds of thousands commit on a daily basis. Others are similarly riled up, but come from disdain that a cultured lady would do something so uncultured or unladylike.

I would not have scuffled with the police, but I would also have felt it unfair to take the fall for a common misdemeanour.

On the other hand, one must admit that city administrators are justified to enforce the traffic law if it exists. But they also have the obligation to publicize it and not enforce it haphazardly.

Simply put, one should not jaywalk. It endangers everyone. As Confucius illuminated, "Don't commit evil because it's small."

Among all small "evils" (or rather nuisances) common in China, jaywalking probably ranks behind spitting, jostling in a queue and reckless driving.

In big cities, most people will wait for the pedestrian's "walk" sign to flick on. But once one or two people start to ignore the traffic signal, the whole crowd will follow suit, leaving only a minority of the legally conscious waiting for the green light.

It is a typical manifestation of the herd mentality. It shows that most people know what is right or wrong, but they don't want to be seen as those who either lead in a mini intersection rampage or remain behind by Javert-ishly sticking to traffic codes.

There are thousands of such examples in any human society, not just in China. And it has little to do with a person's education or upbringing.

The law is just one set of conduct. In a school of higher learning, if cheating is rampant and goes unpunished, many will be tempted because ultimately it's the honest ones who end up being penalized. And in the extreme case of war, lawlessness is often the survival instinct that governs.

So, if traffic cops are serious about deterring jaywalking, they should "shoot the birds who stick out their heads" so to speak. The signal will be loud and clear to the majority who intuitively knows where the wind is blowing.

However, there are situations when the fault of jaywalking rests primarily with city planners.

Many busy streets in our big cities should have footbridges or underpasses. But because of poor planning or inadequate funding, huge pedestrian crowds are left to traffic signs. The road partitions in the middle may work to some extent, but in some cases, they only exacerbate the situation.

In a scene in the Mexican movie "Y Tu Mama Tambien," a migrant worker is killed while trying to cross such a divided road. If he had obeyed traffic law, he would have had to walk half an hour longer to use the nearest pedestrian crossing.

The scene sent shivers down my spine because I've seen a similar accident in a Chinese city.

When city planners build an elevated or underground crossing, the top priority should be the number of people who can benefit from it. Yet, in our cities, such facilities are sometimes in locations where there are few pedestrians, and as a result, they become a security hazard. At the same time, there are no such structures in places with overflowing foot traffic. Should city officials calculate and forecast traffic flows before constructing a footbridge or underpass?

Shanghai is right to crack down on jaywalking. But it takes more to solve the problem than handing out a fine and broadcasting it.

And it takes a lot more to maintain laws and order than simply targeting one form of traffic violation.

Email: raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/29/2006 page4)