Chinese children are increasingly at risk as the number of cars
soars: at least 19 children under the age of 15 die in traffic
accidents every day and 77 more are injured.
According to a report issued by the China
Center for Disease?Control and?Prevention and the
Ministry of Public Security, last year 7,078 children were killed
in traffic accidents, 113 more than in 2003. Another 28,017
children were injured.
Some 44 percent of the children injured in traffic accidents
were pedestrians, according to the report.
In a survey of 1,850 students between the ages of eight and 10
in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, 44 percent of respondents
indicated that they had encountered very dangerous accidents caused
by busy traffic or crowded or badly damaged sidewalks. About 60
percent of the students had difficulty crossing streets because of
insufficient signs and crosswalks.
The report calls for improved road infrastructure and stronger
regulations, as well as increased awareness among the public and
decision-makers of measures to keep children safe on China's
roadways and more comprehensive publicity of child pedestrian
safety measures.
It advised lower-level and local departments to collect
additional data about childhood road injuries and the interventions
that can reduce them.
The World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, issued in
spring 2004 by the World Health Organization and the World Bank,
suggests that road crashes and injuries can be effectively
prevented through such simple strategies as safety belts for adults
and children, legislating and enforcing speed limits and
drunk-driving statutes, and increasing the visibility of vulnerable
road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn April 13, 2005)