【英语中国】大众高管刘坚车祸凸显中国道路凶险

The death of Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive's general manager, Liu Jian, and three other senior managers in a weekend car crash was a personal tragedy for their families and friends - and also a reminder of the larger calamity of road safety in China.

Liu, 45 years old, and his colleagues were killed on their way to a business meeting in Jiuquan, a city in the northwestern province of Gansu. They were traveling in a company-owned 2009 Tiguan SUV at about 220 kilometers per hour, or about 137 miles per hour, when it smashed into a large truck less than two miles from a toll booth. The SUV burst into flames on collision, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The accident on Saturday afternoon highlights the dangers of driving in a country with one of the highest rates of traffic fatalities in the world. According to a 2009 World Health Organization report, 'Road Safety in the Western Pacific Region,' China reported more than 89,455 traffic fatalities in 2006, and probably had an actual number at least 2.5 times that figure. The report estimates the ratio of registered cars to fatalities in China was only 658 to 1, worse than any other medium or large Asian country but the Philippines.

China's government says more recent data show the numbers are declining significantly. Fatalities in 2009 totaled 67,000, representing a 30% drop from just five years ago, Xinhua reported earlier this month, citing the China Automotive Technology Research Center. But the Xinhua report also noted that China's death toll 'is still generally 10 times more than that in the developed nations.'

Traffic accidents in China, as in many large countries, are almost certainly underreported. The WHO statistic suggests more than half of fatalities go unreported to authorities or in some other way get left out of government assessments.

A high rate of traffic accidents is perhaps natural for a country that has such a short history in the world of automobiles. Most drivers in China today didn't grow up in families with private cars and weren't exposed to the sorts of safety lessons that young people in developed countries learn growing up. As recently as 2003, there was one car in China for every 120 people, according to the People's Daily. Today, that number is 18 and shrinking. China, already the world's largest car market by annual sales, is set to overtake Japan in private car ownership by 2011.

ZUMApress.com中国的交通事故死亡率位居世界前列。
上海大众汽车(Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive)总经理刘坚和另三名高管在周末的一起撞车事故中遇难。这对他们的亲友来说是一场悲剧，而事故也让人注意到有关中国道路安全的更严重的问题。

45岁的刘坚和他的同事们是在去参加甘肃酒泉一次商务会议的途中遇难的。他们当时乘坐的是公司一辆2009年版途观SUV汽车，行车时速约220公里，结果在离一处收费站不到两英里的地方撞上了一辆大卡车。官方媒体新华社报道，SUV在碰撞后被火焰吞没。

中国的交通事故死亡率位居世界前列，上周六下午发生的这起事故，让人注意到在这样一个国家驾车的危险性。世界卫生组织(WHO)2009年《西太平洋地区道路安全》(Road Safety in the Western Pacific Region)报告显示，中国在2006年报告共有超过89,455人因交通事故死亡，而实际死亡人数有可能至少是这个数字的2.5倍。报告估计，中国注册车辆与交通事故死亡人数的比例只有658比1，这个安全率低于除菲律宾的其他任何一个大中规模的亚洲国家。

中国政府说，最新数据显示死亡人数正在明显下降。新华社本月早些时候引用中国汽车技术研究中心的数据报道，2009年的交通事故死亡人数一共为67,000人，比五年前下降30%。但新华社的报道也提到，比起发达国家，中国的交通事故死亡人数仍然普遍多出10倍。

几乎可以肯定，和很多大国一样，中国所报告的交通事故没有得到充分报告。世界卫生组织的上述统计数据说明，超过半数的死亡人数要么是没有报告给有关部门，要么是因为其他某种原因没有进入政府的估计数字当中。

交通事故的频发，对于一个汽车历史如此短暂的国家来说或许也算正常。中国今天多数司机都不是在拥有私家车的家庭里成长起来的，发达国家年轻人在成长期间得到的那些安全教育，他们并没有机会接触。据《人民日报》报道，到2003年，中国也才每120人拥有一辆汽车。今天是每18人一辆汽车，数字还在不断缩小。按每年的销量计算，中国已经是世界最大的汽车市场，其私家车拥有量很有可能在2011年以前超过日本。