Children Salute Cars in China

Monday, the New York Times reported a new mandate in China that schoolchildren must wave or salute to passing cars during their commute to and from school.

The idea is to make drivers more aware of children in the road, and as one commenter put it, act as speed bumps. The hope is that drivers will slow down when children stop to wave a hand in the air.

The story has been picked up by various bloggers, either making jest or criticism of the Time's story. But its reliability has been confirmed by the China Car Times outlet that quotes another Chinese media source, However, the story's report of unconventional traffic control is creating a buzz on google and will likely travel through the rest of the media before quieting itself.

In China, the times reports, there haven't been any traffic accidents in the region where children must salute, but there are a number of criticisms from Chinese citizens. The times writes: "Critics, who have posted thousands of negative comments about the policy on China’s electronic bulletin boards, beg to differ. “This is just pitiful,” wrote one in a post last year. Only inept officials would burden children with such a requirement rather than install speed bumps, others insisted."

The times uses the rest of the story as a springboard for further discussion of China's past unconventional edicts, and point to other regulatory and organizational problems of small towns and communities across China.