She Works as a Police Chief

Pedestrians wove their way through the traffic at the intersection between Century Street and Lianfang Road in Handan， Hebei Province， during the morning rush hour on March 1.

"Excuse me. Please pull over your electric bicycle and wear your helmet. It is mandatory to wear one，"a traffic police officer shouted to a rider without a helmet. The traffic stop happened while Su Qi was on an inspection tour， and she patiently explained to the rider the potential risks of not wearing a helmet. The rider accepted the punishment – helping direct traffic for 15 minutes.

"Punishment is not the goal but a means to raise safety awareness."Su always reiterates this to the public patiently. Behind her meticulousness is her commitment to serving the people with all her heart. "Now， around 95% of riders wear helmets， and their safety awareness is growing，"she says with great pride.

Action for Safety

Su arrives early at her post at 7：00 am， a habit that she has developed as a traffic police officer over the years. She has stuck to this routine as she has risen from an ordinary police member to an officer， a deputy chief， and a political instructor.

On December 31， 2022， Su was transferred from the Zhuhe Community brigade to the second mobile squad at the Traffic Police Branch of the Handan Public Security Bureau. When her role changed from a political instructor to squad chief， she shouldered greater responsibilities.

She has been working to make the traffic smoother  her squad manages and the road safer.

She has been working diligently every day since she assumed this more than one month ago. Through her efforts， she created a new six-step approach for the duty post， planned a waiting area on the crosswalk to facilitate two-stage crossings of pedestrians and non-motor vehicles， implemented an innovative three-step approach for orderly car parking， and standardized the uniform for the 62 police and auxiliary officers on her team.

"Drivers should give way to pedestrians and non-motor vehicles crossing the road"; "Helmets and belts make for safe rides"; "non-motor vehicles should stay left at traffic lights to give way to cars turning right". Obvious are the newly posted signs around the intersection between Century Street and Lianfang Road.

These are the new measures suggested by Su， who draws on her long observation of numerous traffic scenarios.

"The signs here are easily noticeable to riders waiting at traffic lights as well as to the drivers in the other lane，"she stresses.

One always complicated issue in traffic management is how to direct pedestrians and non-motor vehicles waiting in the middle of the crosswalk before they continue the second part of their crossing. Non-motor vehicles are prone to accidents when turning left diagonally at the intersection. Su conducted multiple on-the-spot investigations and simulations， and eventually expanded the waiting areas for continuing second-stage crossing at the junctions of the four non-motor vehicle lanes.

"Designing these waiting areas as a green semi-round zone not only offers a refuge island for pedestrians and non-motor vehicles turning left， but also facilitates the standardization of the traffic flow，"says Su， adding that this approach was later extended to 26 intersections across the city.

Yuhua Middle School is one of the top schools in the city. ninth graders finish their classes at 10：30 pm every night. The simultaneous dismissal of more than 1，500 students poses a great challenge parents to park their cars and pick up their children.

To address the knotty problem， Su and her colleagues made careful field investigations， creating a three-step method for orderly car parking： cleaning out parking lots， carrying out refined management， publicizing a new parking order. As a result， 183 additional parking spots have been set up with seven more free parking lots available; and 16，000 illegally parked cars have been handled and 21 abandoned vehicles towed away.

"It is much more convenient to pick up children now， and parking is neither hard nor disordered，"some parents applaud the changes.

Commitment to Excellence

Su is 39 years old. After the joining the police， she first worked at the station before transferring to the Traffic Police Branch in 2009， where she has worked for 14 years. Dedicated and responsible， Su has flourished each of her posts.

In February 2011， the women's squad was established under the Zhuhe Brigade at the Traffic Police Branch， with Su appointed the chief. The squad is principally responsible for traffic management at the key traffic posts downtown.

When the force was first established， many were sceptical： "Are female officers qualified for this？ Can they withstand the hardships of this task？"

In response to the skepticism， Su and her team members worked around the clock to sharpen their law enforcement capacities. Su set the highest standards and posed the strictest requirements for training her team.