Accidents prompt outcry over traffic safety

BEIJING - The deaths of 71 people in six auto accidents over the course of the last few days have shocked many Chinese, leading some to complain about a lack of safety on the country's roads.

A van-truck collision in northwest China's Gansu province killed five people Monday afternoon, marking the sixth major road accident to be reported since early Sunday morning.

The crash occurred at 4:40 pm, when a fully-loaded van carrying 14 people collided head-on with a truck on a highway in Chengxian county. Nine others were injured in the accident.

The first accident occurred early Sunday in northwest China's Shaanxi province, where a double-decker sleeper bus burst into flames after rear-ending a methanol tanker in the city of Yan'an. Out of the 39 people onboard the bus, 36 died in the blaze.

The accident has prompted the State Council to send a team to Yan'an to oversee local investigation and rescue efforts.

The province saw another two accidents following the sleeper bus blaze, with five people killed after a farm vehicle overturned in Longxian county on Sunday and nine people dead after a speeding truck-tractor ran into a van on the Qingdao-Yinchuan Expressway Monday morning.

In Southwest China's Sichuan province, a van carrying 12 people crashed into a heavy-duty truck Sunday afternoon on an expressway, with 10 of the van's passengers killed at the scene and another two perishing after being hospitalized.

Finally, three vehicles collided on a national highway in suburban Beijing early Monday morning, leaving four people dead and 11 others injured.

The accidents have prompted some to ask why China's roads are so dangerous. Some Internet users have highlighted the frequency of accidents involving double-decker sleeper buses, as accidents involving these vehicles often result in large numbers of casualties.

Sunday's road accident in Shaanxi was the worst to occur in China since July 2011, when a fire on an overloaded sleeper bus killed 41 passengers and injured six others on an expressway in central China's Henan province.

"The design of the double-decker sleeper bus is absurd, as only the driver can open the door and the side windows are usually locked," wrote "Xingqing-Sunny" on Sina Weibo, a popular microblogging site.

"If the head of the bus is deformed, as it was in the latest Shaanxi accident, the passengers will have no way to escape if a fire breaks out," the user added.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Public Security suspended the production and sale of sleeper buses starting from March 1 this year. However, existing buses will likely remain in service for another five to eight years.

"We strongly recommend that all sleeper buses that travel longer than 600 miles be cleared out of the market," wrote Internet user "Shoududeying."

"For those that are still in use, operating hours should be limited between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., since falling asleep at the wheel at night is one of the main causes of those accidents," the user wrote.

Others say Chinese traffic authorities need to draw lessons from  countries where traffic accidents are relatively rare.

"In Germany, bus drivers take a 15-minute rest in every two hours and are required to have 11 hours of sleep at night," wrote Internet user "Candy Qianzhihe."

Others say stricter government supervision is the key to reducing accidents.

"Passenger safety is ensured not only by things we can see, such as vehicle parts and airbags, but also the invisible guarantee provided by traffic rules and government supervision," said Zhang Tong, a professor at Tongji University.