title: The prevalence of speeding and drunk driving in two cities in China: a mid project evaluation of ongoing road safety interventions.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Electronic address: kbhalla@jhsph.edu.
authors.forename: Kavi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bhalla
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Family & Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Qingfeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Injury Prevention Division, National Center for Chronic and Non-Communicable Disease Control and Prevention (NCNCD), Chinese CDC, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Leilen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Injury Prevention Division, National Center for Chronic and Non-Communicable Disease Control and Prevention (NCNCD), Chinese CDC, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bishai
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Adnan A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hyder
mesh_terms: D000056:Accident Prevention / Q000379:methods; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D019985:Benchmarking; D002681:China; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D017751:Safety Management; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control
keywords: China; Drink driving; Road traffic injury; Safety; Speeding