BEIJING, Feb. 2 -- Police in Shanghai are clamping down on drunk drivers ahead of the Spring Festival party period.

    "The Spring Festival is a traditional feast for Chinese people to celebrate with their families as well as for meeting friends and attending many banquets," said Ji Ping, assistant to the head of the General Team of Traffic Police yesterday. "However, we see tragedies caused by drunk driving during this time every year."

    A team of 30 officers will patrol suburban streets and downtown entertainment areas at least twice a week during the Spring Festival period on the lookout for drunk drivers.

    Offenders will face a fine of up to 2,000 yuan (250 U.S.dollars) and 15 days in detention.

    In all of last year, 67 people were killed by drunk drivers on Shanghai's roads, according to traffic police. They did not say how many were killed during Spring Festival.

    From December 21 last year to end of last month, 122 were killed on Shanghai's roads and 453 injured. Seven of the deaths and 19 of the injuries were caused by drunk drivers.

    "Drink driving usually gets more serious around festivals especially the Spring Festival," said Ji. "We actually launched the campaign early last month to patrol local streets and elevated roads every evening, trying to catch drunk drivers."

    Police would not say how they spot drunk drivers, but said the crackdown included undercover investigations such as staking out busy restaurants.

    Some local newspapers have called for authorities to promote a service that has proved popular in other cities, including Beijing and Guangzhou.

    Restaurants and bars with agent driving services offer customers who think they've had too much to drink a driver who will take their car home for them.

    Traffic police yesterday said they were in favor of the service.

    "Actually, we have learned that a small number of such business are already being offered in some local entertainment venues, though they are not popular yet," said Ji.

    An estimated 25 million people will travel in and out of the city during the 40-day Spring Festival transport peak, which starts tomorrow.

    The city's downtown traffic system, on the other hand, is expected to handle nearly 12.5 million people travelling inside the city, up six percent from the same period last year.

    "The busy traffic flow during Spring Festival period means greater pressure for traffic police," said Li Qiang, a traffic police officer from the general team.

    During last year's Spring Festival transport peak, 168 people died on the city's roads.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)