Every day, 200 people die on the roads

Jul 1, 2007

BEIJING, July 1 (Reuters) - China's roads, the world's deadliest, claimed more than 200 lives a day in the first six months of the year, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday. But the death toll of 37,000 was down 12.2 percent from the same period last year, the agency quoted the Ministry of Public Security as saying. Injuries fell by 15.2 percent to 189,000. The number of accidents, often caused by drivers breezily flouting traffic laws on increasingly crowded roads, dropped 16.9 percent to 159,000 in the first six months.

China's love affair with the automobile -- there were 148 million cars on the road at the end of March -- is also contributing to worsening pollution from exhaust emissions.

Beijing had poor air quality for 15 days last month, the highest June total since 2000, according to the capital's Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection.

The capital's smog is a major concern of organisers of the 2008 Olympics, now just over 13 months away.

In a step that officials hope will brake car use, road taxes went up on Sunday for the first time since 1986.

The tax for an ordinary passenger car would rise to a maximum 660 yuan a year from 320 yuan, according to the State Administration of Taxation.

In Beijing, where more than 1,000 new cars are registered every day, the tax has increased to 480 yuan from 200.

Also on Sunday, China formally scrapped a largely defunct tax on bicycles, Xinhua said. Beijing ended the registration fee of 4 yuan a year back in 2004.

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