Police faster in responding to accidents
Traffic police in the Pudong New Area have put new procedures in place to reduce congestion caused by traffic accidents to within an hour.
The police authority has increased the number of rescue vehicles and tow trucks standing by near key roads, while enhancing cooperation with the city's transport monitoring system.
The rescue vehicles can now arrive at an accident scene within 20 minutes.
Rescue vehicles are on call.
"The new measures ensure sufficient rescue resources and can release traffic pressure due to accidents, especially on expressways, as soon as possible," said Lu Shuhui, captain of the Pudong police division's Expressway Group.
Traffic accidents in Shanghai always lead to severe congestion, according to police.
There have been 14 minor accidents in Pudong since the new procedures were put in place two months ago. The average time taken to deal with them has been reduced by half to 59 minutes, police said on Wednesday.
"It also means the time of the traffic congestion has been cut in half," said Song Jiayin, director of the traffic police command center.
At 6:50am on May 10, there was an accident involving 10 cars on Jiyang Road affecting three lanes and causing congestion.
Police arrived at the scene at 7:07am and the first rescue vehicle was there 12 minutes later. Traffic began to get back to normal from 7:22am after a second rescue vehicle arrived.
By 7:29am, police said, all the damaged cars had been removed and traffic flow was restored.
Officers direct traffic and allocate rescue sources from the command center.
