DRIVERS who illegally park in Shenzhen will be given 10 minutes to move their cars before being given a pink ticket starting from April 1.

The warning will not apply to illegal parking on expressways and trunk roads such as Shennan Road, Binhe Road and roads in business centers such as Huaqiangbei and Dongmen.

Drivers will also be warned before being fined for other minor violations, such as illegally changing lanes, failing to use seat belts or using a mobile phone while driving.

Drivers will be allowed just three text warnings a year.

The text service will also be used to inform drivers of violations, when to hand in health check reports and when to renew licenses. All police messages will be free.

This innovation, said to be the first in China, is among seven measures to be taken by Shenzhen police to reduce traffic violations.

"We expect to reduce minor violations by 30 percent if the new methods are effective," said traffic police spokesman Xu Wei at a news conference yesterday.

The major task facing police is the collection of driver information and updating this in a databank.

Drivers can register by sending messages in two forms, either the driver's details or vehicle's details, to 1065-7345-5222 (China Mobile users), 1065-9020-3522 (China Telecom) or 1065-5020-5222 (China Unicom). To register vehicle information, drivers must send A+plate color+plate number+ final four digits of engine numbers+mobile phone number. The driver's information must include B+driver's license number+final four digits of driver's license number+ driver's name+mobile phone number.

Drivers can also register at the official Web site of the traffic police or police service counters. Police officers will also be on city roads to help drivers register.

Drivers can also register at hospitals designated by police for health checks, emission inspection stations and postal service outlets.

"This is an important and pressing task. We found that 60 percent of driver information was incorrect because of changing mobile phone numbers or addresses," Xu said.

City traffic is becoming increasingly serious with an average of 600 new vehicles going on the road each day since the beginning of the year.

The number of vehicles will reach 1.5 million in April.

Source:Shenzhen Daily