Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Department of Population Family & Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Injury. 2013 Dec;44 Suppl 4:S49-56. doi: 10.1016/S0020-1383(13)70213-4.
Road traffic crashes in China kill in excess of 250,000 people annually, more than any other country in the world. They are the fourth leading cause of premature death in the country and are responsible for 2.4% of the burden of non-fatal health loss in the country. Interventions to curb speeding and drunk driving are being implemented in the cities of Suzhou and Dalian since late 2010. We evaluated the ongoing effect of these activities through five roadside surveys, seven rounds of observational studies, and analysis of crash statistics in the two cities. We find that thus far, the prevalence of speeding has not reduced in either city with the notable exception of one site in Dalian, where the percentage of speeding vehicles declined from nearly 70% to below 10% after an interval-based speed enforcement system was installed. The broader deployment of such speed control technologies across China and other countries should be explored. Roadside alcohol testing suggests that prevalence of drunk driving (i.e. BAC >20 mg%) declined from 6.4% to 0.5% in Suzhou and from 1.7% to 0.7% in Dalian during the monitored time period. However, the measured prevalence rates are very low and should be validated against estimates based on hospital studies. Roadside interviews suggest that the population of both cities is already highly sensitized to the risks associated with drunk driving and speeding. Crash statistics from the two cities do not show appreciable declines in injuries and fatalities as yet. However, the possibility of substantial underreporting in crash statistics sourced from traffic police poses a severe threat to monitoring progress towards road safety in Suzhou, Dalian and across China. There is an urgent need for China to invest in a reliable road traffic injury surveillance system that can provide information for describing key risk factors, evaluating the impact of safety policies, and benchmarking achievements.
中国每年有超过 25 万人死于道路交通事故，超过世界上任何其他国家。它们是中国第四大导致过早死亡的原因，占该国非致命性健康损失负担的 2.4%。自 2010 年底以来，苏州和大连两市一直在实施遏制超速和酒后驾车的干预措施。我们通过五次路边调查、七轮观察性研究以及对这两个城市的事故统计数据进行分析，评估了这些活动的持续效果。我们发现，到目前为止，这两个城市的超速现象并没有减少，只有大连的一个地点是例外，在那里，安装了基于时间的速度执法系统后，超速车辆的比例从近 70%下降到了 10%以下。应该探索在中国和其他国家更广泛地部署这种速度控制技术。路边酒精测试表明，在监测期间，苏州的酒后驾车（即 BAC >20mg%）的流行率从 6.4%下降到 0.5%，大连从 1.7%下降到 0.7%。然而，测量的流行率非常低，应该根据医院研究的估计进行验证。路边访谈表明，这两个城市的居民已经对酒后驾车和超速带来的风险高度敏感。这两个城市的事故统计数据尚未显示出伤害和死亡人数明显下降。然而，来自交通警察的事故统计数据可能存在大量漏报，这对监测苏州、大连乃至全中国的道路安全进展构成了严重威胁。中国迫切需要投资一个可靠的道路交通伤害监测系统，该系统可以提供有关描述关键风险因素、评估安全政策影响和基准成就的信息。
