The government should take firm action to ensure road safety and stop the rise in the number of traffic accidents, said State Councilor Zhou Yongkang Friday.

Zhou told a State Council meeting that China was facing a severe road safety situation with rapid economic development and the increase in logistics, vehicles and drivers.

Zhou called on local governments and government departments to attach great importance to the road safety work. He underlined the importance of driver management, maintenance of road order, prohibition of vehicle overloading and safety of road passenger transport.

China should learn from foreign countries' success in pushing forward the modernization of road transportation safety, said Zhou, also member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.

He demanded provincial governments write self-criticism reports to the State Council when a local traffic accident kills over 30 people or when three local accidents each claimed 10 or more lives.

A total of 1.073 million accidents of various kinds claimed some 139,400 lives in China in 2002, according to official reports.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2003)