On the way to KTV in Fuxing Park the other night (slightly tipsy, but in a taxi), I noticed that there was a policeman giving a breathalyser test to a neighbouring motorist. In what looked like an extremely lazy roadblocking manoeuvre, the cops were walking down the queue of cars at the intersection of Chongqing Lu and Huaihai Lu, and seemed to only be stopping at cars with open windows. Way to save time there, guys.
Today I read the following on Shanghaiist, and it doesn't make me feel any better.
"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!
Source: Shanghaiist
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