Everyone can probably relate to this Chinese commuter’s predicament. He was so sick of delays on his daily bus commute, he decided to do something about it. However when he took a bucket of paint to the intersection and created a new arrow to divert traffic, he got caught on surveillance footage. While he probably deserves an “A” for artistic effort, police were not impressed, leading to him getting a fine.
Chinese commuter gets artistic on the road
The BBC translated an article posted by the Modern Express, which told the tale of a man identified only with the surname Cai.
Cai lives in Lianyungang in eastern China’s Jiangsu province and catches a bus to work every day. However he got so fed up with delays caused by the traffic markings and decided to “free up” a mostly unused lane to speed things up a bit.
Cai had noticed that a straight lane on the road was constantly packed with vehicles, while the left-turning lane was always quiet and had plenty of space for cars. Not to be deterred, Cai decided to do something about what he perceived to be a horrible traffic mistake. He bought himself a can of white paint and headed to the busy intersection to paint a white arrow – with traffic rushing past him all the while. First of all he created a new left-turning arrow, then went back and painted a straight arrow in the lane itself.
Artistic commuter got fed up with traffic delays
— Anne King (@inthemedia1) December 1, 2017
Image credit: CGTN/YouTube pic.twitter.com/8yW6rfmjzH
As reported by the New York Post, Cai told the Modern Express that he believed changing the road signs would make his daily bus commute quicker and smoother, but local authorities didn’t see eye to eye with his idea.
So he decided to make his own road markings with white paint
— Anne King (@inthemedia1) December 1, 2017
Image credit: CGTN/YouTube pic.twitter.com/Ul6P2sRAEY
While traffic constantly zoomed past him, he painted away
— Anne King (@inthemedia1) December 1, 2017
Image credit: CGTN/YouTube pic.twitter.com/Dad1Q9JWBh
Police said new road markings were dangerous
In fact the local police said his road painting efforts were actually downright dangerous.
Authorities went on to say that his actions could have led to a serious collision in the intersection.
He maybe deserves an "A" for artistry, but...
— Anne King (@inthemedia1) December 1, 2017
Image credit: CGTN/YouTube pic.twitter.com/vS8i5JTg98
After they spotted his artistic work on the CCTV surveillance footage from cameras in the area, they tracked him down and handed him a fine of 1,000 yuan, which converts to around $151. Since then authorities have sent workers to the site to clean off the paint.
... yeah, he was caught on CCTV and got a fine - then the city removed his work
— Anne King (@inthemedia1) December 1, 2017
Image credit: CGTN/YouTube pic.twitter.com/7mrNm5ocTR
Readers can watch Cai at work in the video below.
Man creates new parking space for himself with chalk
According to the South China Morning Post, this isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened in China. Back in April, another artistic Chinese guy in the eastern city of Zhejiang received a fine after he was caught on surveillance footage, carefully drawing a parking space for himself on the road, this time using chalk.
Inside #China ~> The thin white line: van driver eludes Chinese traffic cops by chalking his own parking places https://t.co/WLXmKfU9Y7
— Asia Pacific News (@AsiaPacNews) April 30, 2017
Traffic officers had spotted strange markings on the road while they were patrolling. While the lines were similar to other marked parking spaces, they were too thin in width and were not complete.
After tracking down CCTV surveillance footage, they spotted a van parked in the spot and then saw a man climbing out of the vehicle, kneeling down and drawing lines on the road. His artistic efforts led to a bigger fine than that received by Cai, as he was hit for 5,000 yuan (around $725).