The Chinese government, not vandals with a sense of humor, did this.
In America, drivers are always on the lookout for Highway Patrolmen parked behind bushes and on shoulders, radar guns at the ready to clock speeding drivers. Aside from the massive inconvenience and time spent at the Patrolman’s leisure, hefty fines ensure that drivers will only speed once.
Meanwhile, in China, stone monkey statues wear high-visibility traffic vests in an apparent attempt to mimic a police presence without one existing.
The city of Changsha in the southern province of Hunan has not seen positive results with either speed cameras or extra police. So, in the hope that a polite but somewhat unconventional reminder will keep drivers from breaking speed limits, stone monkey statues have been placed along highways, clad in orange-and-yellow traffic vests. On one hand, they could work; on the other, they could serve as potentially fatal distractions on busy highways. And who wants to report to their insurance agent that they rear-ended somebody because they saw a monkey in a traffic vest? [Source]
