China has decided to hand down fines to executives of transport firms and push harder on local governments to cut down on traffic accidents that claimed tens of thousands of lives in the country every year.

Executives of transport firms responsible for an accident of more than 10 deaths would be removed from the post, or face fines between 20,000 yuan (2,941 U.S. dollars) and 200,000 yuan, the Office of Work Safety Commission under the State Council said on Wednesday.

The office also ordered that such executives would be banned from similar executive posts at transport firms within five years, and those who committed a crime should be punished according to laws.

Transport firms that were twice responsible for accidents that claimed more than 10 lives in a year would be ordered to suspend operation, or shut down if they failed to meet safety standards after the suspension, the office said in a notice.

In addition, local governments are required to report timely to the State Council, if a road accident claiming more than 30 lives, or three accidents that killed more than 10 each time, occurred in the region within a year.

The office said it wanted to avoid deadly traffic accidents through such stricter penalties.

At least 20 people had been killed in road accidents across the country since the beginning of this month, according to earlier reports.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2008)