Jaywalking has long been an issue facing many Chinese cities where congested pedestrian and vehicle traffic often collide.

To remedy this, in Changsha, the city has introduced facial recognition software at intersections to deter people from crossing the road at inappropriate times.

At the crossing of Guoliang Road and Leifeng East Road in Wangcheng district a large-scale LED screen has been set up, on which poorly behaved pedestrians and riders of non-motor vehicles who run red lights will be exposed.

The monitoring system will record those that violate the law and display them on the LED screen at the intersection. "The system is to remind pedestrians to observe traffic rules and help improve safety," said a police officer from the Wangcheng district public security bureau.

The monitoring system exposes a pedestrian crossing the road on a red light in Wangcheng district, Changsha. [Photo by Wen Shuaiwei/news.changsha.com]

From January to June last year there have been a total of 132 accidents involving pedestrians disobeying traffic rules, of which 100 were injured, according to statistics from the Changsha traffic police.

"The monitoring system will automatically capture images of people who cross on a red light," said Zhou Wen, a government technician. "It will snap four photos covering the environment and the face of the pedestrian. It is also able to detect and record each violation if several people break the law at the same time."

The system is still being piloted in the city, with the expectation that it will expand to more crossroads at a later date, local media reported.