Legal Background
The first traffic regulations for the People's Republic of China went into effect on August 6, 1955. 59 articles formed the City Traffic Regulations (simplified Chinese: 城市交通规则; traditional Chinese: 城市交通規則), promulgated by the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China. It was vague and terse, however, and punishments for violators were relatively light.
In 1988 the regulations were revisited, but the result was still a traffic administrative regulation (中华人民共和国道路交通管理条例). There still was no law to control traffic.
The first expressway traffic regulations surfaced on March 26, 1990, under the title Interim Regulations for Expressways. These were strengthened later on in the 1990s, when a new regulation (albeit temporary) took effect, banning "new drivers" (PRC licence holders for less than a year) from the expressways.
The Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China represented a huge breakthrough. It instituted higher fines, compulsory vehicle insurance, and a point system for penalties, among other reforms. The bill was passed with Hu Jintao in power in late October 2003 and took effect on all of mainland China on May 1, 2004.
Read more about this topic: Rules Of The Road In The People's Republic Of China
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