China
In response to China's growing road safety crisis, GRSP is working with partners on four major projects. Supported by the Global Road Safety Initiative, all projects go through the same processes: situational survey, intervention and evaluation.
Road Safety in ChinaProjects |
Road Safety in China at a glance
- Motor vehicle registrations have increased by more than 15 percent per year since the 1980s.
- By the end of 2007, there were nearly 57 million registered automobiles in China.
- During 2002-2008, over 660,000 people were killed and over 3 million injured in road crashes, according to official statistics.
- Annual economic losses from road crashes are estimated between 1 and 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) - much higher than the national budget for public health services.
- Road injury patients represent more than 25 to 30 per cent of hospital bed occupancy.
- In 2007, approximatey 81,000 people were killed and 380,000 more injured on China's roads.
Facts
By the end of 2005, China had a total road network of over 1.9 million kilometers. China’s roads are divided into a series of road classes, with expressways and Class I roads having the highest quality. Expressways, Class I and II highways account for 16.9% of the total road network and roads below Class III make up 83.1% of the network. The Chinese government is investing heavily in infrastructure development. In 2004 alone, USD 56 billion was invested in road construction. Despite this massive effort, the quality of many of the country’s roads is sub-standard. 80% of traffic crashes in China take place on Class II, III, IV, and unclassified roads (Class III, IV and unclassified roads are the rural roads, on which 40% of crash take place). The Government’s policy for the road sector, as reflected in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010), calls for (i) the construction of 38,000 km of new roads to expand the total road network to 2.3 million km, of which 25,000 km will be expressways, bringing the total length of expressways to 65,000 km; and (ii) the completion of the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS). Rapid development and increasing vehicular growth in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have resulted in a substantial increase in road crashes and road crash related injuries and fatalities. Motor vehicle registrations in China have increased by more than 15% per annum since the mid 1980s. By the end of 2005, there were more than 43 million registered vehicles in China, over 12 million of which are passage cars. During 2000–2005, more than 600,000 people were killed and around 3 million injured in road crashes, equivalent to 1 fatality every 5 minutes. It is estimated that road crashes in the PRC have impacted on the lives of more than 20 million people, either as victims of crashes or as family members of those involved in the crashes. Annual economic losses from road crashes are estimated to be the equivalent of between 1 and 3% of PRC’s gross domestic product (GDP) - higher than the national budget for public health services, and the national budget for rural compulsory education. Road injury patients represent more than 25% - 30% of hospital bed occupancy. According to official statistics, there were 450,254 road traffic crashes in 2005 resulting in 98,738 fatalities and 469,911 injuries. The main characteristics of China’s road safety situation include inappropriate road design and construction, inadequate traffic management, lack of robust enforcement of traffic laws, poor road safety behavior of road users, low standards of driving (including inappropriate speed, overloading, inappropriate turning), and an undeveloped emergency response system. Although according to the official statistics the number of fatalities declined from 2004 - 2006, road safety remains a critical issue in the country. Without enough attention from the central government and major new initiatives, these factors the rapid pace of motorization and new highway construction are likely to lead to a worsening of the situation. China’s first Road Traffic Safety Law was adopted by the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, and took effect on 1 May 2004. There were previously no legislative provisions governing the management of road safety in China and road safety was managed on a governmental level according to administrative regulations between Ministries. The new law provides the basis for a legal foundation on road safety management in China. On 5 September 2003, the State Council (the chief administrative authority in the PRC) sponsored the first joint ministerial conference in China to discuss improving road safety. 17 ministries were represented at the ministerial conference. Among the 17 ministries, the following five are considered as key road safety related agencies: An important result of the September meeting was the establishment of the Forum on 22 October 2003. The Forum is a coordinating body for road safety led by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). The responsibilities of the Forum include: improve the road traffic safety condition nationwide, analyze and monitor the road safety situation, develop policy and mid and long term strategic plans for improving and monitoring road safety, analyze and implement measures to improve road safety nationwide, guide and supervise all provincial governments and relevant departments in terms of their road safety efforts, coordinate road safety among government departments and ministries, improve inter-departmental cooperation, share information, establish a long term efficient mechanism for managing road safety, prevent and reduce road crashes and road crash injuries.Roads
Road Safety Situation
Road Safety Coordination and Stakeholders
GRSP in China
GRSP's China activities started in early 2005 soon after the Global Road Safety Initiative (GRSI) was announced. Several trips were made to China during the year by GRSP staff to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the current road safety situation in the country and to explore possible opportunities. A local coordinator was appointed; Ms. Ann Yuan is based in the IFRC delegation office in Beijing and is responsible for facilitating activities on behalf of GRSI in China.
Ann Yuan - GRSI Coordinator, China
Ann Yuan has over 20 years mullti-national company experience and over 10 years automotive experience in China. She served in many managerial positions in the China operations of GM, Delphi and Technical Training Inc. (Tti). She is familiar with the global and China domestic automotive business and market and has extensive experience in business and market development. Before joining GRSP, Ann acted as senior consultant of the Beijing SINOVA Automotive Consulting Company, which is an affiliate of SAE China (Society of Automotive Engineering, China).
Ann received her MBA degree from Illinois University at Chicago in the U.S. She lives with her husband in Beijing and is based in the Red Cross Society of China in Beijing (the IFRC delegation office).
ann.yuan@ifrc.org
Projects
Safer Roads
Speed Management
Goal:
GRSP's speed-management project in China aims to reduce speeding and related death and injury on selected roadways.
Together with China's Research Institute of Highways of the Ministry of Communications, GRSP launched the Chinese version of the Global Good Practice Manual on Speed Management in 2008 and began phase I: a situational survey at the selected road sections.
Process:
- Two-year speed management project starts with case studies on several typical road sections including express, national and urban roadways.
- Follows up with interventions based on the findings and an analysis for effectiveness.
Related documents for download
Safer Roads Users
Improving safety for Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) at Junctions
Objectives- Focus on high-risk intersections in Beijing
- Improve the VRU safety at the selected intersections by using low-cost countermeasures (channelization, barrier, pedestrian island, road signs, etc.)
- Provide a good practice guide for other cities in China
The process
GRSP worked together with a multi-sector partners (including Beijing Transportation Research Center, Beijing University of Technology and Beijing Traffic Management Bureau - traffic police) to study the problems, design solutions, implement various improvements, then analyze the results.
Results
- Six high-risk intersections chosen for improvement after a situational study.
- Countermeasures implemented at each selected intersection based on the determined risk factors.
- A post intervention evaluation showed the number of serious conflicts has gone down:
- more bicyclists are using two-phased crossing (instead of diagonal);
- the speed of right turn vehicles has been reduced;
- pedestrians felt more relaxed when crossing with the safety island.
- The experiences were collected into a manual of good practice which was launched in May 200
Related documents for download
Reducing drinking and driving in two cities in China’s Guanxi province
GRSP and partners interviewed more than
5,000 riders during both baseline and
post-intervention surveys.Goals: In 2008, GRSP and a wide range of partners, launched a two-phase drinking and driving prevention programme aimed at:
- Understanding the scale of the problem of alcohol-impaired driving in two cities, Nanning and Liuzhou
- Reducing prevalence of drinking and driving in those cities
- Reduce the number of casualty crashes related to drinking and driving in these cities
- Improving public awareness about road safety and the risks of drinking and driving
- Increasing knowledge about the risks and penalties of offending the drinking and driving law
Phase I
Baseline studies. The baseline survey showed roughly 35 percent of road-crash involve alcohol use in the two cities.
Phase II
- Targeted intervention from May through November 2008 with both public-education and enforcement
- Post-intervention survey in both the intervention cities (Nanning and Liuzhou) and the control city (Changsha), including roadside and crash surveys.
Results
A project awareness survey showed nearly 75 percent of people in Nanning and 78% in Liuzhou were aware of the public education campaign. During the roadside survey, more than 5,000 drivers/riders were breath tested and interviewed in each of the three cities.
The outcome showed:
- a 63% decrease of drinking and driving behaviors in Nanning;
- a 71% decrease Liuzhou;
- a 61% increase in the control city, Changsha;
- The crash survey in the three cities has been completed
The partners involved in the project include: The World Health Organization, the Health Human Resource Development Center of Ministry of Health, Clarity Public Relations and local partners in Guangxi Province.
"The intervention against drinking and driving carried out in Liuzhou since 2008 has brought a lot of attention from the general public. With the great efforts made by people from the health sector and traffic police, the prevalence of drinking and driving in the city has clearly declined. It plays a very active role of building a harmonious and civilized society in Liuzhou."
- Wu Yanwen, Deputy Secretary General of the Liuzhou municipal government.
Related documents for download
Children's safety project
Children Safety Project with NDRC Project :
In 2008, GRSP signed a contract with the Institute of Comprehensive Transport (ICT) to carry out the children road safety research project in China and better understand the nature and scope of problem of children road traffic injury in Guangzhou.
Process:
A baseline survey will be conducted in 2009 among youth under 18 in Guangzhou. The survey will include collecting existing data from traffic police and hospitals, a behavior survey (questionnaire) and site observations.
The survey will be conducted by the George Institute.
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