Results tagged “drunkdriving”

Driving home late at night can be a scary experience: as drunk driving is on the rise, we find ourselves wondering: are those erratic cars weaving through traffic all drunk, or just reckless drivers? But fear not: Shanghai Daily informs us of a new invention in the works at Shanghai's Jiao Tong University that will help Shanghai's crackdown on drunk driving.

Shanghai Daily has some startling statistics about drunk driving in our city - according to a study released yesterday, we have almost double the amount of fatal road accidents related to DUIs (8.3%) than that of the national average (4.16%). Last year, over 6% of traffic accidents in Shanghai were caused by drunk driving.

• Xinhua has a fun little photo gallery about a cooking competition that was held to greet the Shanghai World Expo. [Xinhua]


• Speaking of food, do you spend money on food like Kanye spends time in the spotlight? Then step up to the challenge and try to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner all for under 25rmb. [Urbanatomy]


• Here’s an update on the adjustment of the one child policy. Due to revisions in the policy some families will be able to have more than one child. Check it out. [BBC]

So Shanghai may have found a ridiculous amount of drunk drivers during the most recent ten day crackdown on drunk driving (1200 people!), but it didn't even make it into the top nine worst offenders.

"Those who drive dare not to drink, those who drink dare not to drive" is a particularly apt and Chinese way to summarize the philosophy behind the recent crackdowns on drunk driving in Shanghai. Sina News recently published a Cops-esque article about dragnets set up at hotels around the city, which captured more than 1200 drunk drivers in just the last ten days. The drama included stakeouts of hotel parking lots, intersection checkpoints, and even searches for "sleeper cars" with drunk drivers trying to "sleep it off". Once caught, techniques of avoiding arrest in Shanghai range from the internationally popular "drink two bottles of mineral water" to the less palatable "wash your mouth out with soap". It seems the Shanghai police are serious about this campaign: they've even forced on-duty policemen to turn off their mobile phones to avoid "preferential treatment" of suspects. Amazing!

Organ trafficking stirs concern [Global Times] "The number of organ transplants from deceased donors in China is only 130 since the first case in 2003, one of the country's leading transplant experts said at a seminar yesterday. About 11,000 transplant operations are performed each year in China, including both living- and all deceased-donor transplantations, including executed prisoners, making the country the second-largest in the world to the US in total number. But that number it is far from enough to meet demand, Chen Zhonghua, the Chinese Medical Association's deputy director for transplanting, said…"

If you're planning on going out to the Hengshan Lu, French Concession area tonight, be forewarned - it seems like the cops down there have been cracking down on excessively drunk people, inside of cars and out. A tipster told us that he's seen as many as ten cops on the corners of Wulumuqi Lu and Yongjia Lu every night and a few more hanging around by Zapata's. Not only are they doing random drunk driving checks, they've also become much less forgiving of public displays of drunkenness and loitering. The breathalyzer testing has also been confirmed on Baoqing and Huaihai Lu. Perhaps they're afraid foreigners coming for the Expo will be disgusted by the sites of their drunken compatriots? P.S. No disrespect to the drunken laowai pictured, who very charitably and heroically chugged beer after beer at our July 4 party near where the cops are now patrolling.

A 26-year-old Shanghai woman died in New York after being run over by an allegedly intoxicated off-duty police officer. Her family is now preparing to fly to the U.S. to handle funeral arrangements. The officer has now been charged with vehicular manslaughter, assault and driving while intoxicated. A woman identifying herself as the officer's mother blamed the victim, telling the New York Daily News that “It was her fault... my son went out and had a couple of drinks. He deserves to have a good time now and then.” Uh... worst mother ever? Source: Shanghai Daily

From the Associated Press:

It makes sense that drunk driving will be an increasingly big problem in cities like Shanghai. More people are driving. Police rarely pull people over. There are tons of targets on the streets. The whole "face" thing makes people less likely to admit they are too drunk to drive. And finally -- bai jiu will get you shitfaced. Wang Jianwei saw this trend as a potential business opportunity and set up Dongfang Car Service Co. in Hongkou District. His company provides "substitute drivers," who, as the the Shanghai Daily puts it, "take drunks and their cars home." One problem: In the first two his company has been in operation, only one person has used the service. He's already thinking about shutting it down.