China has joined a global initiative to raise people's awareness
of road safety in a bid to slash the number of fatalities on its
roads. Currently, traffic accidents account for one death every
five minutes.
Running concurrently with the United Nations' Global Road Safety
Week, a series of events is being jointly sponsored by seven
national ministries and the World Health Organization (WHO). The
campaign was launched yesterday in Beijing with the
"harmonious-traffic" road show that will tour six cities delivering
its road safety message.
Ma Xiaowei, vice-minister with the Ministry of Health, one of
the sponsors of the campaign, said that in addition to the road
shows, a number of seminars and forums would be held to address key
road safety issues, including properly treating the victims of
traffic accidents.
"In collaboration with the Ministry of Public Security, the MOH
has launched a "green passage", to ensure timely treatment for
traffic injury victims," Ma said at the launch ceremony.
With the economic boom came motorization and China now has some
34 million cars on its roads, and the figure is growing by 12
percent a year. According to MOH statistics, there are six
fatalities a year for every 10,000 motor vehicles.
Statistics from the Ministry of Public Security said that there
were 80,000 road deaths and more than 400,000 injuries in 2006.
This translated as an economic loss of 1 billion yuan (US$129.5
million). More than half the people killed were aged 15 to 44, the
most economically productive group.
In a bid to improve the traffic environment and raise public
awareness of road safety a road traffic safety law was introduced
in 2004. But more needs to be done.
WHO representative Henk Bekedam said that prevention was better
than cure when it came to road accidents and he called for more
road safety interventions and measures.
"Simple things like wearing a seat belt or a crash helmet, and
following traffic rules can save lives," he said.
A road safety survey conducted in Beijing and south China's
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, showed that just 35 percent of
drivers and front seat passengers wore seat belts as recommended,
and that less than 16 percent of motorcycle riders wore approved
helmets, ignoring legal requirements to do so.
(China Daily April 24, 2007)
