Traffic police in China are using drones to give orders from above

Video footage shared on social media shows scooter rider being addressed as a ‘handsome young lad’ and told to put on his helmet, which he does

Putian authorities have been using two drones to detect traffic offences for the past year, one of a number of places to do so

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Putian police are monitoring motorists using drones made by Shenzhen-based DJI. Photo: AP

Published: 5:21pm, 6 Sep 2019Updated: 10:51pm, 6 Sep 2019

“The handsome young lad on the black electric scooter in dark green clothes and glasses – please put on your helmet!”

A surprised scooter rider and others waiting at a red traffic light in southeast China look around to see where the announcement is coming from. The rider then puts on his helmet.

Had he looked up, he would have seen that the order came from above – from a police-operated drone hovering over the intersection in the city of Putian, Fujian province.

Shaky camera footage of the incident, apparently filmed by a passer-by on Wednesday, was shared on social media by state broadcaster CCTV on Friday. It quickly went viral on Weibo, China’s Twitter, racking up 34 million views within four hours.

The drone is one of two manufactured by DJI that police in Putian have been using to monitor motorists since last September. They have helped to identify 2,184 traffic offences since the beginning of this year, Shanghai-based news site Thepaper.cn reported on Thursday.

Who me? A scooter rider reacts as he is told to put on his helmet at an intersection in Putian, Fujian province, in footage apparently filmed by a passer-by. Photo: Weibo

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