Occurrences of bus accidents in Changsha have dropped by 25 percent year-on-year since its launch of a "courteous driving" program from Dec 30, 2014.

All the buses and taxies in the capital city of Hunan province are required to slow down 30 meters in advance when they are approaching the zebra crossings where people are walking. The driving speed should be reduced to 15 km per hour when the vehicle is 20 meters away from the crossing. Vehicles should stop when the crossing is one to 10 meters afar, to allow pedestrians walk past first.

According to Hunan Longxiang Bus Limited Liability Company, a leading bus service provider in Changsha, during the first month of the policy, the occurrence rate of bus traffic accidents in the city reduced by 25.65 percent, 59 occasions fewer than the same period last year.

For a round tour on all the 47 bus routes running by Longxiang Bus Company, drivers have to pass zebra crossings for more than 4,800 times. So far 27 routes have realized an intelligent scheduling system, under which once the driver breaks the rule, it will give an alarm and record it down backstage.

"We used to hurry up on the way for various considerations such as the assessment of being punctual and fuel expenditures, thus we did not really cut down speed when approaching the crossings. In consequence, even experienced drivers cannot avoid accidents," said Wang Jianjun, a driver of Bus No 602.

"But now driving in a civilized manner is an important part of our assessment. It helps us form a good driving habit and reduce driving accidents," Wang said.

He also mentioned that he received a bonus of 350 yuan for courteous driving in January. In 2015, The Longxiang Bus Company has set up 8.32 million yuan ($1.33 million) as a special award fund for "courteous driving", based on a standard of 300 yuan per driver every month.