A city's transportation governance is more about its development concept and comprehensive governance than about the building of a smooth, orderly and civilized road traffic system, members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said during a proposal seminar in Beijing on Sept 17.

The proposal to improve China's urban road traffic governance was among the 73 major proposals picked at the Chairperson's Council meeting from those raised during the third session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee in May this year.

Overseen and undertaken by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the CPPCC National Committee, the proposal was presented by the group of friendship with foreign countries after a comparative analysis of and thorough research into the road traffic conditions of foreign countries such as Japan, Germany, and France, said Kong Quan, vice-chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, who presided over the seminar.

The proposal was expected to answer the public appeal for better local road traffic conditions, promote Chinese cities' comprehensive efficiency in governing their transportation, and further facilitate the implementation of national development strategies, said Kong.

Above all, modernized transportation governance should be based on a sound legal framework. The CPPCC National Committee members proposed an overhaul of the Road Traffic Safety Law that was enacted in 2004 and formulation of new laws regulating traffic signs, road markings and signals.

New scientific and technological results including big data and artificial intelligence can be employed to optimize the accuracy of transportation governance, according to several members of the CPPCC National Committee.

Big data can be used to solve traffic puzzles by adjusting license plate restrictions, and to promote more delicate and humanized road governance; for instance, by adjusting the duration of traffic controls and road closures and controlling traffic lights to facilitate special groups like the elderly, children and the disabled.

A structural reform of the urban transportation network planning and construction was also urged at the proposal seminar, and more attention to population density and traffic flow and direction was suggested, according to Zhang Bo, a member of the CPPCC National Committee.

Topics related to traffic accidents attracted serious attention from many CPPCC National Committee members during the seminar.

CPPCC National Committee member Liu Xianzhong insisted on strengthening the supervision of drivers of motorized and non-motorized vehicles, while another member, Zhao Mei, suggested comprehensive measures to curb drunk driving and wrong-way travel by couriers.

Traffic laws and regulations should be formulated to keep pace with social development, said Liu Hongcai, vice-chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, who was referring to the surging numbers of electric motorbikes, shared bicycles, and delivery vehicles on city roads.

The concept for governing urban transportation should be renewed and changed for people's convenience as the country sees an increasingly aging society, said Liu.

As the seminar aimed to solve problems and improve people's livelihoods, members of the CPPCC National Committee discussed couriers’ misbehaviors on the road, which is now one of the greatest traffic concerns of the general public.

Many couriers rush to deliver goods or food, violating traffic laws and regulations and ignoring road safety, to win more platform affirmation and increase their income. Their companies require them to obey traffic rules even as they want to move faster and deliver more orders.

The CPPCC members proposed that traffic departments should collect data of these people's misdeeds such as driving through red lights, going the wrong way or on the sidewalks on a quarterly basis, and take strict and comprehensive punitive measures.