China's August traffic deaths caused by drink driving dropped by 32.8 percent compared with the same period of 2008, partly a result of the hardline crackdown on driving under the influence of alcohol, traffic control authorities said Tuesday.

Since the launch of the crackdown on Aug. 15, no single alcohol-linked traffic accident had caused more than three deaths, according to figures released by the Transport Administration Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security.

China's road traffic deaths in August were 5,379, a 7.4-percentdecrease over the same month in 2008.

On the contrary, there was a sharp rise in the death toll of expressway traffic accidents caused by speeding and pile-ups. Speeding-linked expressway deaths climbed by more than 40 percent over last year.

It was the latest ministry move against drink-driving after a recent increase in traffic fatalities and accidents that had raised great public concern.

On Aug. 4, a drunk driver in Hangzhou of eastern Zhejiang Province killed a 16-year-old girl. Two days later, another drunk driver in Shanghai killed a four-year-old boy and injured three others.

Police caught more than 3,000 drivers driving under the influence of alcohol in the first two days of the crackdown. More than 10,000 drivers were caught for the same reason in less than a week.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2009)