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)