Usually when I write about Rule of Law issues, the context is a murder or rape case, bribery or other form of corruption, you know, big stuff. As important as these famous cases are in shaping public opinion, though, the little incidents can be just as powerful on a cumulative basis, particularly when people can closely relate to the underlying violations.

Case in point:

The city administration authority in Leiyang, Hunan province, recently came under fire from the country’s netizens for defying traffic regulations, information nddaily.com reported on Tuesday.

According to a post published on a local online forum, one of the cars that belong to the Leiyang city administration authority has violated traffic regulations as many as 508 times and the penalty of the breaches, which has mounted to 72,800 yuan ($10,665), has yet to be settled.

The car is said to top the list of traffic violators in the city, and the second on the list is also a vehicle belonging to the same office.

Traffic violations – doesn’t get any more down to earth than that. Anyone who has a car can certainly relate to this. Quite egregious, huh? The number one violator is the government vehicle, and the total amount in fines is a heck of a lot of money. Also remember that a traffic violation can be anything from parking in the wrong place to speeding to reckless driving; this pattern could reflect a disregard by government officials of public safety.

The Rule of Law implications are numerous, and we’re just talking about traffic tickets.

As a side note, this information apparently was disclosed in an online forum (I assume this means a BBS). Once again, for all those detractors of China’s restricted Net culture, these are the kinds of things that are going on every day. The Net has made a huge difference even though it is restricted — too bad the word on this reality has yet to spread to the West.