Since February 22, many expressways in Hunan have experienced varying degrees of congestion due to return peaks. Many drivers and passengers posted on social platforms that they were stuck on the road. On the 23rd, the car owner "Shibazhu" posted that he found more than 20 private cars occupying the emergency lane during the traffic jam. He took pictures one by one and reported them to the Hunan Expressway Transportation Service Convenience Platform. Many people praised this, saying that "if you don't obey traffic rules, you should be supervised and punished."
On the 24th, the reporter contacted the owner of the car "Eighteen Pairs" who posted the car. She told reporters that during the peak return period during the Spring Festival, she took a car from Guangxi back to Wuhan, Hubei, and encountered a congestion of about 6 kilometers on the highway in Hunan. The navigation showed that it would take about an hour to pass. Her family was driving at the time, and she was sitting in the passenger seat. She saw many vehicles occupying the emergency lane unscrupulously, and even caused more vehicles that were originally queuing to follow suit. "Seeing the emergency lane gradually turning into a 'fast lane', I feel that something must be done to stop this trend – the emergency lane is a life channel and should not become a shortcut for speculators, let alone those who queue up and obey the rules to suffer."
Some of the vehicles reported by the owner "Eighteen Marriage". Photo provided by interviewee
Therefore, "Eighteen Marriage" tried to search the reporting channels of Hunan Expressway Traffic Police and discovered the "shoot at will" function. So follow the requirements step by step to report. "Shibazhu" said that she spent more than half an hour and reported more than 20 illegal vehicles. Currently, the system reports that 3 vehicles have failed to report due to unclear features or insufficient clarity in the photos, and the rest are being processed.
According to Jiupai News, "If violations are not stopped, it is the biggest punishment for law-abiding people. Even if I spend half an hour, even if only a few cars are punished in the end, as long as more people can hesitate before occupying the emergency lane next time, today's time will not be in vain. Rules need to be maintained together, and reporting channels like 'shoot at will' just give us ordinary people the opportunity to participate in traffic management." She said.
According to upstream news reports, reporters noticed that on the 23rd, the Hunan Expressway Police official Weibo announced that in order to cope with the peak return period during the Spring Festival holiday, the Hunan Expressway Traffic Police temporarily opened emergency lanes on several sections of the expressway. However, the traffic police also reminded drivers to follow the instructions and to avoid occupying emergency lanes during off-peak hours. In this regard, "Eighteen Marriage" told reporters: "None of the things I reported are within the scope of (temporary opening)."
Public information shows that Hunan Expressway Traffic Police carried out a "random shooting" illegal reporting activity from February 2 to March 13, 2026. The content of the report was "driving or parking in the emergency lane under non-emergency circumstances." The reporter called the Hunan Provincial Highway Traffic Police Station to inquire about the matter. The staff said that the content of the "casual shooting" report is currently being processed and will actively verify the content of the report. However, the number of reports during the Spring Festival holiday was too large, and the city and state detachments under its jurisdiction have been notified to handle these reports as soon as possible. "It is still being reviewed and entered, so it will not be that fast."
There are strict legal regulations on the use of highway emergency vehicles. The highway emergency lane is an emergency lane used by special vehicles such as police cars, ambulances, and rescue vehicles when performing emergency tasks. Public vehicles are not allowed to drive or park in the emergency lane except in emergencies.
Article 82 (4) of the "Implementation Regulations of the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates that motor vehicles driving on expressways shall not drive or park in the emergency lane except in emergencies.
Item (3) of Article 9 of the "Measures for the Administration of Points for Violations of Road Traffic Safety Violations" stipulates that driving a motor vehicle to illegally park on a highway or urban expressway will be demerited with 9 points; Article 10 (11) stipulates that driving a motor vehicle while illegally occupying the emergency lane on a highway or urban expressway will be deducted 6 points.
The police reminded that illegal occupation of the emergency lane can easily cause accidents. Some drivers park their cars in the emergency lane at will, which can easily cause vehicles going in the same direction to be unaware of the situation ahead, leading to accidents. It also creates a negative demonstration. Driving out of sequence and occupying the emergency lane will often produce a negative demonstration effect and undermine social morality. In addition, it will aggravate traffic congestion and delay emergency rescue.
The reporter noted that the transportation department will also open some emergency lanes based on real-time traffic conditions and adopt flexible diversion measures. According to the Xiaoxiang Morning News, as of 16:30 on February 23, many highways in Hunan Province were experiencing slowdowns, and some road sections and toll stations were subject to temporary controls. In addition, in order to ease the peak traffic flow on the return trip during the Spring Festival and ensure the traffic efficiency of the main expressway, temporary opening measures for emergency lanes were implemented on multiple sections of the Hunan Expressway on the 23rd.
