Drones Are Used By Traffic Police To Give Orders To Drivers

It seems like Chinese police don’t need to pull over drivers to warn or fine them for traffic offenses as it is now possible for them to give orders through hovering drones.

On September 6, state broadcaster CCTV showed video footage of a drone being used by traffic police to order a scooter rider to wear his helmet, saying something like “The handsome young lad on the black electric scooter in dark green clothes and glasses – please put on your helmet!” After realizing the voice was coming from a drone flying above, the rider complied.

According to South China Morning Post, within four hours following the upload of the clip, it has gained 34 million views on Weibo, China’s Twitter. Most of the users find the clip to be humorous.

The drone is actually a product of DJI. Since September last year, the Putian police have been using it to monitor motorists. 2,184 traffic offenses have been identified since the beginning of 2019.

A team of ten police officers controls the drones which are capable of flying 50 meters above the targets. They can fly up to 30 minutes. The drones come with an electronic sound broadcasting system.

The response could be an indication that Chinese citizens are becoming or already are desensitized to the surveillance efforts of their government.

China has already been known to house the most extensive network of security cameras equipped with facial recognition tech. With these cameras, the authorities can closely monitor as well as controlling the online activity of the citizens. Through the information that they garner, they can assign a social credit score to each person which can prevent them to go anywhere outside of the nation’s borders.