(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-26 07:08

The findings of this survey should embarrass many adults.

Seven students from a high school in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, took a serious look at something many of us believe is not worth the fuss. Frustrated by adult jaywalkers in their city, the seven spent a year conducting a survey to find out why.

The survey's questions may not have been quite professional, but its 31-page findings challenge each and every one of us to do some serious retrospection.

Among the respondents, 60 percent considered jaywalking a common phenomenon in the city, and almost the same proportion confessed to having defied traffic lights. The young pollsters estimated, however, that more than 20 percent of them were reluctant to make such a confession. Which we believe is very likely.

Some people ran red lights because the traffic lights are not evenly spaced out. We are quite familiar with such complaints. We hope it will not fall on deaf ears. Local authorities should review the layout of their traffic control systems and make sure lights are installed where they should be.

That said, some jaywalk just because others do so. When the majority is doing something wrong while not being punished, why should not another individual? Shame on us. Why cannot we break away from this mindset?

The more thought-provoking part of the survey is that the young pollsters recommended "severe penalties" as a deterrence to this bad behavior. They came to such a conclusion partly because of the discovery that when the respondents were told about the heavy fines they may face overseas, only more than 11 percent said they might break the rules when abroad.

The findings again remind us we have a long way to go to instill a genuine respect for the law.

We are all too familiar with scenes where the young, despite weather conditions on the roads, advise adults to observe traffic rules.

How much more should our youths teach us about the decencies of society?

(China Daily 11/26/2007 page4)