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Fixing the figures: Beijing Road Death statistics out by 100,000 Says WHO
A recently released World Health Organization report on traffic deaths in Mainland China has painted a harrowing picture of China’s roads and the state of road safety in the country.
The report estimates that over 600 people are killed in a road accident every day, and that a further 45,000 people are injured. The figures come as no surprise to foreign observers who have seen the state of China’s roads, but have provoked mild controversy because they differ dramatically from official Chinese estimates.
| "more than 600 lives are lost and more than 45,000 people are injured on China's roads every day" WHO Report |
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In stark contrast to the WHO report, official figures released through the Chinese state media in April put the figure at 300 traffic deaths per day, with the yearly total falling over 100,000 deaths below WHO estimates.
Some China watchers have compared this disparity in public death and injury statistics to the government manipulation of other health, safety and environmental records, most notably the cover up surrounding the initial SARs outbreak and the manipulation of statistics relating to deaths and illnesses due to pollution.
The World Health Organization report goes on to warn that, with increased car ownership and worsening safety conditions, the number of road traffic fatalities in china could reach 1,300 deaths per day by the year 2020.
| "Without urgent intervention this [the number of road traffic deaths] could be 1,300 lives each day by 2020" WHO Report |
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While Chinese press has assigned blame to "inadequate traffic infrastructure and booming car consumption", many foreign observers feel that the root of the problem lies with poor driving habits and an open disregard for road safety among Chinese motorists, as well as a poor awareness of road safety amongst pedestrians.
| "cars lunge at you from all angles and chaos abounds" Lonely Planet guide book: China edition |
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Even though motor vehicles are steadily becoming more affordable and available, China has done little to promote responsible driving among adults or child road safety, or to remove dangerous drivers and unsafe vehicles from the road. Driver and pedestrian impatience along with a poor road culture and a low adherence to road safety guidelines have exasperated these problems.
China watchers have noted that it is common practice among drivers to weave between lanes and to maneuver into oncoming traffic without checking, and that many drivers display extreme impatience on crowded roads, and choose to ignore red light and pedestrian signals. Pedestrians also have little awareness of road safety, and the wearing of safety harnesses and motorcycle helmets is not common among drivers and motorcycle riders respectively.
WHO figures show that road traffic accidents have surpassed diseases and other forms of accidental death in China for selected age groups, are now the major cause of death for young adults.
| "In China, injuries from road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for people 15 to 45 years old," WHO Report |
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So true!! I sometimes go to Lang Fang just outside Beijing on the toll
road. I've been here for more than 7 years. I don't drive. I just ride with
fellow teachers in a school van. It is a two lane highway but some idiots
use it as a three lane road. Passing on the shoulder all the time! I swear
that if I ever get hit by a person driving like an a$%hole I will get out
of the vehicle (if I can) and kill the idiot if they aren't already dead! I
hate drivers in Beijing!!}:( Rude and proud. They have the mentality that
if they have a car than they MUST be better than a person who doesn't. They
don't know how to change lanes and they always are changing lanes to get to
the lane that moved a little bit faster. Then they notice their original
lane is now moving faster so they move back!!!!! IDIOTS! They will back-up
on any road even a major expressway! Unbelievable! There is virtually no
law enforcement here. The police drive the same way! BUT I must say that
the only drivers I respect in Beijing are the TAXI drivers. They have
enough experience to know what to do most of the time. I would love to
drive a tank in Beijing! :) Is it true that Chinese are less than 5% of the
New Zealand population but account for 60% of all traffic accidents? Maybe
that is an urban lagend but it is one that is easy to believe. P.S. I am
not bothered by all people in China just the drivers---and the spitters and
the public nose pickers and the nationalistic idiots.
angryoutsiderinchinablogger
car [rubberbowl22@yahoo.com]
While I agree with the sentiments of your post, in fact the report most
certainly not state what you suggest it does.
It is the WHO press
release that made the claim about the deaths and injuries per day, not the
report (which was issued in April this year; it's the update that has been
issued recently).
It seems premature to suggest that "Some China watchers
have compared this disparity in public death and injury statistics to the
government manipulation of other health, safety and environmental records,
most notably...etc"! Perhaps this will come, perhaps it won't.
Each
country records accidents differently (there are conferences devoted just
to the methodology).
The report does certainly not "warn that, with increased car ownership and worsening safety conditions, the number of road traffic fatalities in china could reach 1,300 deaths per day by the year 2020." That is the press release, and I can't find the trend information in the WHO report *anywhere*. In fact, recent evidence suggests that the number of deaths is decreasing now (admittedly from government figures).
The Chinese press has fairly regularly blamed poor driving skills and rule breaking as a significant cause, so again, not a fair complaint.
I do agree,as I said, with your sentiments about road safety, but turning it into an issue about government statistical manipulation or Chinese press coverage of the issue seems (IMHO) misleading, and detracts from the message that something needs to be done about it all.
Perhaps as pertinent is questioning exactly why the WHO figures needed to be updated. There are miscalculations in the original WHO report as well as the changes in the figures. Private care ownership in China is stated as being 1 in 74,000 people (page 43).....errr....hello? 17,000 privately owned cars in China?
The report is an excellent source and is most useful because it suggests a lot that can be done, at little cost, to change the situation. It is a pity that WHO in China did not feel the need to emphasize that in their press release.
- Mark
Mark, good point about maybe overextending the argument to manipulation,
but I have to agree that, whatever the facts, there is not enough emphasis
on driving safety here. I have personally seen one person hit violently
while crossing the street, and even the the taxi drivers are simply more
accomplished at the art of unsafe driving. Pedestrians are also clueless
and do not even look both ways before crossing the street. It should be a
priority for government before the 2008 Olympics.
Keshen
Mark
I count the press release and the report as bring the same entity, they are both official and released by the WHO on this topic. One is scientific and the other is a media release on the science. E.G one is a sumary of the other.
I was also not refering to earlier WHO numbers, but to Beijing numbers, released through the state media, and China watchers have been seeing this as a manipulation of the figures, it may have been by removing certain kinds of acident or fatality or simlply ignoring them, but either way there is a disparity in deaths.
Keshen
Pedestrians have no common sence, it is not something that is encouraged in China because common sence and free thinking go hand in hand. There are no road safty classes in schools and I have not seen road safty adverts eaither. There is very little to tell people how to drive safely or cross the road safely. There is also a distinct lack of crosswalks, bridges or respect for traffic laning and road laws.
A lot of eople are also dying because of driver and pedestrian impatiance, everybody has to get where they are going as quickly as possible and they don't stop to see if it is safe.
[rubberbowl22@yahoo.com]
The original WHO report of which you are speaking was published in June, the Beijing report of which I am speaking was published in April.
Here are two China watchers who have actual lived in China who are compairing the figures to SARs etc
http://china-eye.blog
-city.com/read/857611.htm
http://lifeinjiangxi.blog-city.com/read/860163
.htm
What's this about Chinese being 5% of New Zealand's population but
accounting for 60% of the traffic accidents? Complete bollocks. Us Kiwis
are worse drivers than the Chinese. So there.
Actually, it's a statistic likely invented and propagated by those of my less respectale fellow Kiwis who consider it acceptable to spread racist nonsense.
As for the rest, well, I personally think your average Chinese driver is quite well adapted to the Chinese driving environment. The larger population means a larger absolute number of idiots (assuming that the proportion of idiots is the same for each country, which seems a reasonable assumption) which means many a westerner completely freaks out upon discovering just how, umm, terrifying Chinese roads can be. This then translates into an unusually high rate of death by road accident.
Incidentally, last I heard 15-49 year old Kiwis were also more likely to die by traffic accident than any other cause. The second most common cause of death for this age group was suicide. Welcome to the developed world.
Anyway, that's what I use to keep myself sane as I ride my Flying Pigeon faster than a speeding Xiali through the streets of Tongzhou on a daily basis. Got to get to work somehow.....
I live and drive in Mainland China, your roads are vastly superior to those
of the United Kingdom
It depends heavily on where said roads are. The freeways in China are good,
as are the new roads in the cities, but once you get out to the country it
rapidly gets worse. I've done my share of trudging between hamlets because
the roads have been washed out.