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IN THE five years 2000-2004, more than 500,000 people were killed and around 2.6 million injured in road accidents in the People's Republic of China (PRC), equivalent to one death every 5 minutes - the highest rate in the world.

Such losses are shaving 1-3 percentage points off the PRC's gross domestic product (GDP) per annum, amounting to more than $12.5 billion - higher than the national budget for public health services, and for rural compulsory education.

In the PRC, road accidents disproportionately harm low-income groups (who account for more than 60% of incidents) such as pedestrians, bicycle and motorcycle riders, and long-distance bus users. When household heads are killed or disabled, their families are plunged deeper into poverty.

Road injury patients take up more than one quarter of hospital beds and pose a burden on the scarce resources of road agencies and medical services.

"Road accidents represent a human tragedy that give rise to health, environmental and social problems, and have significant impacts on national economic growth strategies," says Kim Jraiw, an ADB Senior Transport Specialist. "Road accidents also reflect the failure of the road transport system to live up to travel demand."

To help combat the growing problem, an ADB technical assistance grant of US$1 million to improve the safety and efficiency of the country's road transport operations, and strengthen traffic law enforcement in the PRC was approved in November 2005. This is intended to benefit low income groups, and increase overall economic benefits from road network investments.

"The TA will help reduce the severity, frequency, and cost of road accidents to the community. It will complement programs of the Government and ADB in strategically focused areas, and enhance the capacity of road and traffic agencies," Mr. Jraiw adds.

The problem of road safety is acute in the Asia and Pacific region, which has about only 18% of the world's motorized vehicle fleet but accounts for half of global road deaths. The estimated economic loss to the region from road traffic accidents is more than $35 billion per annum, which is double all the foreign aid they receive.

The international problem is so serious, the UN issued a resolution in October 2005 entitled the "Global Road Safety Crisis" to stimulate urgent action to address road safety in developing countries, and included road safety as a topic in its next year's agenda. The UN has now integrated road safety, for the first time, into its policies on sustainable development.

ADB previously provided a TA to assist the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), which is the lead road safety agency in the PRC. The TA developed a focused, interagency, and multidimensional program - the National Road Safety Reform Program (NRSRP) - to address various road safety problems. It was assessed as highly successful. ADB has also developed and maintained a specialized road safety web site, to help developing countries in addressing the problem.

The NRSRP identified several major obstacles to improving road safety and came up with 10 key actions to address these, including promoting interagency coordination; improving engineering, enforcement, legislation, education, community awareness, driver licensing, emergency services, and health care; and resolving funding issues.

The Government and MPS have implemented two key components - establishment of the first national interagency road safety committee in September 2003, with membership of 17 key ministries; and introduction of the first comprehensive road and traffic safety law in May 2004.

"More work is required to achieve the objectives of the NRSRP, and make roads safer," says Nigel Rayner, Director of ADB's Transport and Communications Division for East and Central Asia.

The new TA is cofinanced by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), which was initiated by the World Bank and UN to reduce death and injury on the world's roads. Operating on behalf of seven of its business members (Ford, General Motors, Honda, Michelin, Renault, Shell, and Toyota), GRSP's involvement represents the first private sector participation in road safety in the PRC.

The road subsector is the largest area in ADB's PRC operations. ADB's operational strategy is designed to remove infrastructure constraints and support policy and institutional reforms.

"ADB gives high priority to road safety in its efforts to improve the way the road network is operated and used, help eliminate loss of lives, and support poverty reduction and economic development," Mr. Rayner adds.

"International expertise and best-practice exposure are crucial to the success of road safety programs in the PRC, and the selected TA components are designed to provide this."

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