Rising incomes and a burgeoning consumer culture in China have created a surge in car ownership unlike anything the world has ever seen. Unsurprisingly, the number of road traffic accidents has also skyrocketed. Official data suggest that the Chinese Government is responding eff ectively to the problem. It enacted several high-profile measures in the past decade, establishing an Inter-Ministerial Road Safety Forum in 2003, passing a Road Traffic Safety Law in 2004, and strengthening restrictions against speeding and drunk driving in recent years. Data compiled by the traffic police of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), who have formal responsibility for enumerating the fatalities, suggest that the efforts are working. According to their records, fatalities peaked in 2002, and have fallen by an average of 6% yearly ever since. 'China’s road-traffic toll down 30% from 2004 to 2009', ran the headline of the state-run newspaper People’s Daily in July, 2010. Increasingly, however, researchers and policy makers are questioning the accuracy of these statistics and the trend that they represent. (Author/publisher)
Abstract