Greater numbers of traffic accidents and vehicles on the road have prompted the Department of Highways to increase the standards that need to be reached in order to obtain a driving license.

Training hours are expected to be extended while additional attention will be paid to safety awareness, according to new guidelines on training unveiled by Zhang Jianfei, director of the department, part of the Ministry of Communications, at a press conference yesterday.

In force at driving schools nationwide next month, they aim to help learners acquire driving skills more easily as well as making examinations more difficult.

Road accidents in China killed more than 107,000 people last year, an increase of almost 2 percent on the previous year, according to the ministry.

"Around 89.8 percent of accidents were the driver's fault," said Zhang, adding that reckless driving tops the list of factors leading to traffic accidents, followed by poor road conditions and overloaded vehicles.

"Poor safety awareness amongst drivers has become a key problem," Zhang said.

The country's economic boom has meant a surge in the number of people who can afford cars and get driving licenses.

By the end of last year, Chinese drove about 30 million vehicles, of which over 50 percent were private cars, and around 5.1 million new drivers were licensed last year.

Hearing about the publication of the guidelines, one Beijing taxi driver said it might help reduce the number of accidents. "Most are caused by drivers speeding or overtaking recklessly," said Luo Shuihe from the Yinjian Taxi Company.

The government has set a target to lower the growth rate of deaths from road accidents by 1.5 percent this year.

Besides promoting the new guidelines nationwide, the ministry will continue safety initiatives started last year, Zhang said. "We plan to repair a total of 88,000 unsafe sections of road in addition to 1,091 bridges that might cause traffic accidents."

(China Daily February 25, 2005)