On Oct 1, a traffic police team on the Heze-Baoji Highway received a call from a man wanting to share evidence about vehicles wrongly entering the emergency lane. The police shared their email address and soon enough received a zip document containing 361 photographs showing 36 automobiles violating the traffic rules.

After the police confirmed the violations, the owners of the 36 vehicles received penalty notices.

That is a good example of how ordinary people can help curb illegal activities on the highways. Many drivers enter the emergency lane during traffic jams. However, they end up choking the emergency lane.

Once an emergency lane is choked, even police vehicles cannot rush to the spot to enforce the law and clear a traffic jam. There are cameras monitoring movements on the highways, but most motorists know their exact locations and put up their best behavior there to avoid detection.

The person who took the photos helped the police to collect evidence of traffic rule violations. If more motorists realize that someone could be recording them illegally entering the emergency lane leading to imposition of penalties, they might desist from taking such risks and thus the traffic could flow easily.

Of course, motorists must not compromise their own safety while clicking photographs of violators on the highways. Some users on social networking sites called the above-mentioned driver's activity risky, but he clarified saying a colleague sitting beside him clicked the photographs while he was driving.

On Sunday, someone else took 270 photographs of vehicles illegally occupying emergency lanes on the Chengdu-Nanchong Highway, and submitted them to the police. The police have said they will punish the violators after checking the veracity of the photos.

It is not known if the second driver was inspired by the first one, but it is hoped that more drivers and citizens will join this cause that benefits everyone.