Police: Road accidents on rise in Shanghai as weather bites
Gao Yunfeng, a traffic police officer, pours cool water into the radiator of a car that broke down on the North-South Elevated Road on Thursday afternoon.
Pouring water over his motorcycle seat, which was sizzling in more than 60 degrees Celsius temperature, Shanghai traffic police officer Gao Yunfeng rode off towards the Xujiahui off-ramp of the North-South Elevated Road to attend to a car that had suffered a breakdown.
It was 2:20pm on Thursday, when the ground temperature near Luban Overpass, Gao's daily patrol beat, measured 54 degrees.
On the scene, thanks to his nine-year work experience, Gao immediately spotted the problem with the car – boiling coolant, which is not uncommon in hot summer.
He opened the hood of the car and poured some cool water into the radiator, and the car began working again.
Shanghai is undergoing one of the most scorching July ever recorded in its history, with the maximum temperature topping 40 degrees for a streak of days recently. Subsequently, road accidents, including car breakdowns, have been on the rise.
Citywide, over 160 cars break down on the roads every day since the hot weather set in this month, a 28 percent rise from last month, with more than 20 of the cases reported daily on elevated roads in urban Shanghai, traffic police told Shanghai Daily.
Gao said his squad, which patrols the North-South Elevated Road, one of the busiest elevated roads in the urban parts of the city, receives about 15 emergency calls every day, among which four or five are related to car breakdowns.
"We advise motorists to carefully check their cars before hitting the road, especially the tires, brake, turning functions, lights, radiator as well as the oil or electric systems," he suggested.
"If your car breaks down on the road, please keep calm and slowly pull your car to the side and call the police."
