Hongkongers report over 5,000 traffic violations in trial run of police’s new WeChat channel
- Superintendent Wong Ping-ping says she believes ‘a lot of people are actively using’ new platform to report non-urgent traffic violations
- WeChat was chosen as officers can preset the information required from users, including data about the person reporting and details about incidents
The submissions were all made using “Project PROVE”, the police’s reporting tool on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.
“We think there is some amount of effectiveness and I believe that a lot of people are actively using this platform,” said Superintendent Wong Ping-ping of the police’s traffic branch headquarters, who spoke ahead of the effort’s full launch on Monday.
The reporting tool, which began its trial run in April and can be accessed via the force’s official account on WeChat, allows users to report non-urgent traffic violations, including dangerous driving, failing to comply with road markings or disobeying traffic lights.
But parking violations are not covered by the scheme, as current ordinances require officers to personally issue parking tickets to the driver or place them on their vehicle.