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Death rate on Chinese road has doubled in recent 20 years!
Jun 24, 2008 02:04
  • JIMMYB
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Source: AFP.

A medical study shows that the death rate in road accidents has doubled in two decades. Because more and more Chinese have their own cars, the mortality will increase. To be specific, the mortality in road accidents has increased by 95 percent from 1985 to 2005.

The biggest increases in death rate happened in the developed southest provinces and undeveloped northern and western provinces. From 1985 to 2002, the death rate has been increasing rapidly. From 2002 to 2005, it had gone down slightly. Why?

Since more and more people own their cars, the traffic jams happen again and again, which forces the drivers low down their speed. Thus, few deaths occur.
Jun 24, 2008 03:21
#1  
  • DODGER
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Jimmy,
Traffic congestion in major cities in China is no worse than in any other cities in the World IMO. What is lacking is driver discipline and basic driving skills and in many cases a complete lack of courtesy and little understanding of the outcome of their actions should anything go wrong.
Entering a cross road or roundabout when there is clearly no way through just adds to the problem. I also fail to understand why the authorities have bothered to paint pedestrian crossings on the road. A complete waste of money. No one stops. If you do you end up getting abused by the car behind for giving way.
Having said all of that I am surprised that the mortality rate is not higher.
The standard of police driving is no better. So there is clearly no example set from that direction.
Dodger.
Jun 24, 2008 06:11
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  • WCTMAN
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In Canada, traffic jams are caused almost exclusively by traffic volume. For example, rush hours between about 7 and 8 AM, and 5 to 6 PM. Long weekends are another example, where traffic volumes are much larger than usual. And yes, we have as many if not more cars than Chinese cities. So why do we experience so many traffic jams here in China? A complete lack of training, total ignorance of simple traffic rules, and a total absence of traffic police. As a result, I would estimate that +80% of so-called traffic jams are caused by the drivers themselves. Double and triple passing, u-turns anywhere and everywhere, stopping on busy streets to talk to someone you see walking by...the list is endless. Take a look at the next accident you see here; chances are very good that it is a small rear ender, and the result is a backlog of traffic compounded by all the other drivers trying to get around this minor collision like so many ants on an anthill.

I am reminded of the behaviour of primary school children. You see these little kids running around blind corners; often, nothing happens, but once in a while, some other kid is coming around at the exact same time, and bang, these two kids hit each other hard. All it takes is one experience like this and you will very likely learn that it is just plain stupid to run around blind corners. That is how children learn. But, for some reason, drivers here, by analogy, haven't learnt that following too close leads to minor accidents and huge traffic problems.

There are many things that I love about China, and many things that I simply don't understand. Traffic behaviour here is something I will NEVER understand.
Jun 24, 2008 22:00
#3  
  • JIMMYB
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"I also fail to understand why the authorities have bothered to paint pedestrian crossings on the road. A complete waste of money. No one stops. If you do you end up getting abused by the car behind for giving way."

Dodger, did you notice that those who broke the traffic rule to cross the road usually were a bunch of people? If only one tried to cross the road, he/she might be afraid because the cars just ran and ran. What if a bunch of people? Since there are too many people, the driver has to stop and lets them cross the road. Another reason is that those people know that the driver dare not hit them even if they break the rule to cross the road because they are the "weak group" according to the traffic rule. Even they break the traffic rule, the driver needs to take a certain part of the responsibility.

Persaonally, I think it is unfair. If the pedestrian breaks the rule to cross the road, the driver shouldn't be responsible for the accident because he didn't break the rule. The orginal intention of the rule is to protect the weak group--the pedestrians. However, some people just make use of the rule to cross the road randomly.
Jun 25, 2008 01:12
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  • JCNILE123
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I think traffic jams are the same all over around the world, we are unfairly targeting China, and the only difference is the infrastructure and the lack of need to walk in our countries.

The more developed the infrastructure the less apparent chaos there is.

Amsterdam


Jun 25, 2008 01:12
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  • JCNILE123
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Beijing

Jun 25, 2008 01:13
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  • JCNILE123
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Cleveland

Jun 25, 2008 01:14
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  • JCNILE123
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Europe

Jun 25, 2008 01:15
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  • JCNILE123
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Moscow

Jun 25, 2008 01:16
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  • JCNILE123
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New York

Jun 25, 2008 01:16
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  • JCNILE123
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London

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