Weak security awareness, unscrupulous violation of traffic rules
and lack of road ethics are the major causes of frequent traffic
accidents in China, which kill about 100,000 people a year, said
legislators in Beijing.
Sun Shujun, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC),
China's top legislature, said that many traffic accidents are
related to risky driving behaviors, such as speeding, overloading,
fatigue driving and drunken driving.
Liu Quanfang, who is attending the annual session of the
National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC), considered overloaded trucks a major threat to
the road security, as they led to more than 30 percent of the total
traffic accidents.
Trucks are often found to carry cargoes two or three times their
regulated loading capacity, which not only increase accident
potentials but also cause damage to road, even the collapse of
highways and bridges in serious cases, Liu said.
Truck drivers, who make a living on transport business,
sometimes drive day and night despite tiredness, risking their
lives to make more money, he added.
According to his research, traffic accidents cause about 600,000
deaths and injuries in China every year, which may have impact on
the life of about 1.8 million families.
China recorded 349,000 traffic accidents in the first 11 months
of last year, with 82,000 deaths, according to the Ministry of
Public Security.
Sun Shujun also blamed driving schools for loosing the training
of new driver. "These schools care only money, but do little in
legal and ethical education on traffic security. Some even help
their students get driver's licenses if they fail the test."
Driver's license applicants in China acquire their skills
through attending a training course in driving schools.
These schools usually have a training field designed for various
road conditions, such as narrow passageways, railway crossings,
roads with hidden hazards and hilly slopes. Students learn the
driving skills in the field but never try driving in a real
situation.
Some of the schools are designated by local traffic authorities
and thus can take advantage of the special "relations" to help
students get licenses through illegal means.
Sun also pointed out that the lack of necessary traffic
facilities along road shall not be neglected.
He called for better supervision over driver training and
testing and suspend the operation of schools with poor
training.
NPC deputies and CPPCC members also suggested better use of
police and scientific means to monitor and control traffic flows
and the improvement of speed limit warnings and other traffic
facilities.
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2007)