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BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese roads saw 60 percent less traffic accidents in 2015 compared with 12 years ago when the country's Law on Road Traffic Safety came into force, a report said Wednesday.
According to the report delivered to 150 national lawmakers who gathered in Beijing for a bimonthly session, there were 188,000 traffic accidents in China last year, killing about 58,000 people.
In 2004 the figure was 518,000 accidents, killing 107,000 people. A total of 278 million motor vehicles were on the road in 2015, compared with 107 million in 2004.
The report was based on the results of investigations by the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee between August and October, to find out how the traffic safety law had been implemented and should be improved.
"In general terms, the Law on Road Traffic Safety has been well implemented," Wang Shengjun, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said Wednesday when delivering the report.
In addition, 46.7 percent less road accidents caused by drunk driving was recorded in 2015 from 12 years ago, he added.
Wang, nonetheless, warned that road safety remains at grave risk, citing rampant overloading and use of unwarranted electric bicycles and low-speed electric vehicles, as well as recurring traffic law offences by reckless drivers and pedestrians with poor road etiquette and little safety awareness.
Insufficient law enforcement and slack safety management and infrastructure on some roads were also to blame, he said, adding that over 1.6 million kilometers of roads in China's rural areas - more than 40 percent of the total - are marked as "dangerous."
He urged authorities to step up work to pull illegal vehicles off the road, raise public awareness over road safety, improve laws and regulations, and ensure their enforcement.
The Chinese top legislature started a two-month nationwide inspection on enforcement of the Road Traffic Safety Law in August this year.
An online survey which polled close to 336,000 in the same period showed 44 percent of people were regularly trapped in traffic congestion, and more than 63 percent complained about "unbearable" difficulties when parking.
