China’s propensity for surveillance has become infamous worldwide. On the country’s roads in particular. Now, in addition to cameras tracking drivers’ every move at intersections, Jiangsu police have unleashed a new anti-crime weapon, one that flies and shouts.
It was during the National Day holiday, in order to ensure safe and orderly traffic flow, that traffic police in coastal Lianyungang City of northern Jiangsu Province took the unusual step of deploying drones to monitor illegal parking at potential choke points along the local highways.
That’s when drivers who had parked their vehicles by the roadside heard the admonishment. “The traffic police team kindly reminds you to please abide by the traffic rules when travelling on National Day”, came the announcement from the drone flying overhead.
So far, so polite. But Guannan County Public Security Bureau had more in store for offending drivers parked at the intersection of the 204 National Highway and Xingang Avenue, adjacent to the exit from the G25 Expressway.
“The vehicle you are driving is suspected of illegal parking; please drive away immediately”, one drone said in a considerably sterner tone.
With the aim to eliminate potential traffic-safety hazards to the greatest extent, as of 3 October, the police had used several drones to successfully persuade the drivers of more than 50 vehicles to remove them from the roadside.
According to the Yangtze Evening News, the official policy behind the drones’ deployment was “to strengthen traffic-safety publicity, road patrol inspection and control, and traffic-violation-evidence collection”.
As this latest example shows, there is increasingly-little escape for drivers who have a quick scant for cameras in the vicinity before deciding to leave their vehicles where they present a concern for safety.
Now, just because there isn’t a surveillance camera around, that doesn’t mean one won’t turn up without warning, from the skies above.
George Orwell would have been proud.
