A Chinese man has attracted lots of attention online with nearly 400,000 netizens responding to his behavior for throwing bricks at more than 30 cars whose drivers were ignoring red lights at a dangerous crossing, the Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.

I just want to catch people's attention and tell the drivers to think of pedestrians, the 74-year-old man said, according to the report.

Even when the light is green, drivers just ignore it and don't slow down for pedestrians, the man added.

In order to punish drivers and draw attention to poor driving habits, the man planned to throw bricks at all cars that ran red lights for one week, starting last Thursday, but police stopped him on the first night.

Many residents in the community applauded his behavior and two elderly men joined the former teacher, while others gave them bricks and brought them water.

More than 30 cars were damaged during last Thursday's incident, according to the report.

The old man was released later without charge and he said he knew his behavior was illegal but he had tried all he could and it did not help.

He became a campaigner for road safety after a pedestrian was killed near where he lived.

Last year, there are 73,484 people died in car accidents in China, according to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security.