The wrong side of the road

As vehicle numbers soar, traffic jams are becoming a fact of life on China's overcrowded urban highways, as Xu Wei reports.

When you ask people about the challenges that will confront China in the coming years of development, traffic gridlock will always be near the top of the list.

Last year, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences polled more than 20,000 residents in 38 cities nationwide, and its subsequent report showed that more than 83 percent of urban residents expressed concerns about traffic congestion, and 16.5 percent of them felt the problem was "extremely serious".