The sight of taxi drivers rolling down their windows to hawk a loogie into the road is about to become less common in Shanghai, but there’s a trade-off. A big one.
Instead of just getting cabbies to stop spitting altogether, officials plan to attach “spit sacks” to the metal grill that surrounds the driver’s seat, so they can turn it into an indoor sport.
This may or may not work. These sacks follow an earlier innovation, where the city attached spittoons to garbage cans. Those were not a complete success, as citizens mistook them for ashtrays.
Anyway, don’t worry that your taxi driver is going to have all the fun; the sacks are designed so that passengers can use them, too, and what a cozy experience that will be. “Hey, can you pass that sack back, Jack, I got a mouthful of phlegm you won’t believe!” Here’s the story: 
Woman walks past a “Don’t Spit” campaign poster in Shanghai May 16, 2003. REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV
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