Chinese police punishing high-beam offenders

Traffic police in the vast southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen have taken a novel approach to castigating drivers who misuse their headlights.

In what may or may not be a case of making the punishment fit the crime, Shenzhen police have announced they will subject offenders to the bright headlights of a vehicle for five minutes.

Shenzhen police announced the creative new procedure via their official account on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

They described the penalty as an "appropriate experience" that would force drivers who flashed their high beams inappropriately to "sense the harm" of their actions.

"From now on, traffic police will make those found carelessly using bright lights to look at them for five minutes," said the post, which was followed by a laughing-face emoticon.

In addition, offenders will be subjected to a police explanation on the correct use of headlights and forced to pay a fine of 300 yuan ($A52.60).

Apart from traffic accidents and vehicle emissions, the use of horns and high beams have become big issues on roads in China, the world's largest car market.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, new-vehicle sales increased by 6.7 per cent to 1.62 million last month, and by 8.2 per cent to 13.3 million to July this year, putting the world's most populous nation on target to eclipse its 2013 figure of 22 million new vehicle sales.