介绍:
Authorities are calling for a stop to illegal driving practices including driving intoxicated and speeding as today marks China's annual "Traffic Safety Day".
The day, established by the Ministry of Public Security in 2012, is designed to raise awareness of safe driving practices.
CRI's Wang Mengzhen has more.
A motorist was killed and four cars were hit as a man went on a driving rampage in the city of Nanchang of Central China's Jiangxi Province.
"The car slammed into my vehicle first, then it drove on and hit another car. After that, the car didn't stop and sped off with the motorist stuck under its wheels."
Local police managed to stop the car only after laying traffic spikes on the road. After an investigation, it has been found that the driver had taken drugs.
Wang Bingbing is an official with Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.
"Previously, we have done the tests. After taking drug, people's reaction capacity dropped by 21 percent compared with that under the normal condition. As for drunk driving, the reaction capacity dropped by 12 percent. So compared with alcohol, drug has stronger impact on human reaction."
This year, police have reported about 620,000 drivers who hit the road after taking drugs.
But unlike drunk driving, drugged driving has not been included in the country's criminal law and the driver is not subject to criminal liability in the event of an accident.
As part of this year's campaign, the Ministry of Public Security has already submitted a proposal to the National People's Congress, suggesting including drug driving into criminal law.
Apart from drug-driving, this year's campaign also targets six other illegal practices, namely overspeed, overload, drunk-driving, running the red light, occupying emergency driveway and no slowing down at zebra crossing.
Liu Zhao, the deputy head of the Traffic Management Bureau explains why the seven practices are brought under the spotlight.
"These illegal practices are frequently reported and pose huge threats to people's safety. Based on this year's record, these practices account for a quarter of all illegal practices on roads. Based on their impacts, overspeed, overload, drunk-driving and running red lights have led to a large number of traffic accidents which delivered severe results. "
Statistics show some 80 percent of road accidents are caused by violation of traffic rules.
To provide real time traffic data to the public, the Ministry of Public Security also launched its first nationwide traffic management website on Tuesday.
The website will publish data based on the information collected by traffic police and video surveillance records nationwide, in a bid to better safeguard traffic safety.
For CRI, I'm Wang Mengzhen.
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