BEIJING TRAFFIC OVERLOAD:THERE IS no end in sight for gridlock nightmare, dire congestion and terrible pollution in Beijing.
The Chinese capital has added nearly 1,500 new cars to its roads every day so far this year, even though car sales are falling in China and despite efforts to cut traffic.
Beijing city registered 65,970 new motor vehicles in the first 45 days of this year, with a daily increase of 1,466, according to the municipal traffic authority.
That brought the total number of automobiles in the city to 3.56 million as of February 14th, according to figures from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.
The city registered 58,590 new drivers in the same period, a daily increase of 1,302. There are now 5.2 million drivers in the city of 16 million.
“The city is facing serious traffic pressure and safety risks due to the growing number of automobiles,” Song Jianguo, head of the bureau, told the Xinhua news agency.
Official data shows that car sales in January fell by 7.76 per cent from the same period a year earlier as the economy flags, but increasing car sales is one of the efforts being undertaken to kick-start the economy, particularly focusing on the domestic market.
The local government has also introduced rules to take one-fifth of private cars off the road each day, according to odd-even licence plate numbers, to ease congestion and pollution.
Traffic rules are often only casually observed in the Chinese capital, and driving in the city can be difficult at times, particularly in heavy traffic.
China recorded 5.1 road accident deaths for every 10,000 motor vehicles in 2007, the highest rate in the world.
On the plus side, few cars ever pick up enough speed on the ring roads in Beijing to do any serious damage. Huang Wei, vice mayor of Beijing, said that the number of people killed in traffic accidents fell to below 1,000 last year for the first time in 10 years.
Beijing reported 90 deaths from traffic accidents in its suburban areas since the beginning of this year, or 66 per cent of the city’s total traffic deaths in the past six weeks, according to the bureau.
The bureau plans to launch a traffic safety overhaul starting next Monday, involving increased inspections of traffic facilities, markers and transportation companies.
There will also be more surveillance of traffic conditions around schools and drivers of heavyweight vehicles, Song said.
