China has vowed to continue its "Driving with Courtesy" campaign in a bid to further improve people's awareness of safe and responsible driving as well as the road traffic situation.

Summing up the campaign's progress since its inception in 2010, ministries of public security and transport ministries pledged to expand the campaign to small cities and rural areas.

As of the end of 2011, China had around 106 million automobiles and more than 235 million licensed drivers, some 17 times and 13 times the totals of 1991, respectively.

Last year the country saw 27 major traffic accidents that involved ten or more deaths each, seven less than in 2010 and down 43.7 percent from 1991, according to figures that were disclosed by the ministries in support of the campaign.

But on Tuesday 15 people were killed and six were injured after a bus overturned and fell into a deep ravine in Aba Tibetan-Qiang autonomous prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Meanwhile, in the eight months that followed May 1, 2011, when China's revised traffic safety law that stipulates tougher penalties for alcohol-related driving took effect, the country recorded a total of 238,000 cases of drunk driving, down 45 percent year-on-year.

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