Shanghai is more comfortable with a Vespa-style ride on light bikes that aren't built for speed. They are handy for cuddling couples to sport around on hot summer nights in their finest silk pyjamas and they are the transport of choice for an army of messenger boys.

There are also the city's low-cost public transport machines, carrying passengers on short but death-defying rides, often into the depths of dark alleys where taxis dare not go.

So it came as a bit of a surprise, at least to this Shanghai resident, when the official media proclaimed this week that the city now meant business and it was time to throttle the motorcyclist rather than the bike itself.

Television news viewers heard of the pollution caused by this environmentally unfriendly mode of transport and they spoke of the mind-numbing problem of tracking down all those bikers who ignored licensing rules.

They also saw kindly policemen pointing to 'no motorbike' zone signs. Officers explained that for now it's just a reminder but in the future it's no more Mr Nice Guy.

One local news programme showed a motorbike that had spun out of control, leaving a bewildered rider spread-eagled in the middle of a street and rubbing an aching limb. Another highlighted a tipped-over bike with a load of fresh vegetables scattered across the street while some scenes were far more gruesome than that.

There are certain things in China's most open city that officials don't like to talk about, particularly with foreign reporters. Among them are tiresome statistics that put the city in a less than favourable light.

But just in case there were questions about the latest improvement to the city's traffic, they managed to trot out some half-statistics. Last year, for example, the city had 2,265 traffic accidents where a motorcycle was involved and was deemed to be 'more than 50 per cent responsible'.

There were 237 deaths and 2,389 injuries in these accidents, and the death toll was 10 per cent of the total. But the statisticians also admit there are about 640,000 motorbikes in Shanghai 55 per cent of all motor vehicles on the road.

Fortunately, at least from a safety perspective, city centre traffic is so congested that bikes, trucks and cars must settle for a less than record-setting pace.

Once in the suburbs, however, the cheek-by-jowl competition for road space fades away and a motorist can get up some speed. That is probably where the serious traffic accidents occur.

So naturally the safety campaign is aimed at the slow-moving heart of the city. Much of that area has been made off limits to motorcycles from out of town while key streets are banned for locals as well.

Taxi drivers, competitors for customers and room on the road, are naturally pleased by the new arrangement.

'It's about time they kept them out,' a taxi driver said.

'They should all be banned from downtown.'

Motorcyclists see things a bit differently, however.

'There are so many vehicles on the road. Why are they picking on us?' asks Zhang Zhicong as he sits on his motorbike taxi, waiting for a fare.

Another bike taxi driver Zhang Jiafu echoed those sentiments. He lost his steel plant job two years ago and now fears he may be out of another.

'I'd better make some money fast before they start handing out tickets,' he said.

And there is Wang Xiao, a 27-year-old who says he rides his motorcycle to work because buses are too crowded and taxis too expensive.

'What do I do with my bike now? Do I sell it? As far as I'm concerned, the city's motorbike anxiety is misplaced.'

Sure motorbikes aren't for everyone but they are a cheap way of getting around for those at the bottom of this unruly economic heap. And until the city expands its bus and subway service, they fill in the gaps.

The bikes have their detractors but some people growl at the trucks and buses while for others it's the cars with the army plates that rankle.

They fear no one - including the cops.

The state fondly refers to the army moving among the people like fish in water. When it comes to driving, however, its more like a school of sharks with the smaller fish hurriedly getting out of their way.

So far there is no campaign to get the troops to march in step, at least as far as rules of the road are concerned.