About 600 drivers have been named and shamed on the official website of the city’s traffic police.

The program, which began on April 20, targets drivers responsible for the worst traffic violations, such as drunk driving, using fake driving licenses, carrying too many passengers, and excessive speeding.

Records of the offenses are logged with creditchina.gov.cn, a web portal hosted by the Chinese government that collects citizens’ credit information. Serious driving offenses can potentially be counted as demerits in an offender’s personal credit rating.

As well as drivers of private cars, drivers working for transportation companies are also targeted.

Those who are banned from taking driving tests for cheating or giving bribes and those who are responsible for traffic accidents involving casualties will also be included on the web along with those whose driving licenses have been revoked.

The list, displaying names of offenders and the firms they work for, is published on sh.122.gov.cn.

Drivers are informed they will be named and shamed on the written decision of administrative offenses issued by traffic police after an offense is committed.

Police told Shanghai Daily that if a driver successfully applies for an administrative review after being named and shamed, the driver’s name will remain on the published listing but the offense will be noted as “canceled.”

Police said published names would stay on the website for “a long time” though they did not specify a time period.

Police also warned that those with bad credit could be affected in seeking loans from the banks and could be required to pay higher insurance premiums.

The “creditchina” initiative, which was initiated in January, will gradually cover all provinces and cities in China.