Umtri - 2008 - 1 January 2008 Road Safety in China : Challenges and Opportunities

China has the world's largest population, is the second largest automobile market, and is the third largest world economy. China's economy is booming, resulting in a rapid increase in both the road infrastructure and the access to private vehicles. As a consequence, China faces unprecedented road safety issues. The present report was designed to analyze the Chinese road safety situation and to identify countermeasures that would address areas in which the total harm caused by crashes can be substantially and readily reduced. The report focuses on two aspects of road safety in China, challenges and opportunities. In the first part, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of the current road safety situation in China and the likely future trends. Based on this analysis, the following four areas were identified as having potential for substantially reducing fatalities in China: pedestrians and other non-motorists, nighttime driving, vehicle passengers, and motorcycles. In the second part, the report discusses several promising countermeasures for each of these four areas.