title: Preliminary study on alterations of altitude road traffic in China from 2006 to 2013.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Road traffic can play an important role in strengthening regional economic activities, especially at high altitude, and it is necessary to know important traffic-related information. Although previous studies reported on road traffic in China, there has been little research on high-altitude road traffic to date.
  
  
  METHODS
  The annual official census of road traffic safety from 2006 to 2013 was used to obtain data on the general population, registered drivers, registered vehicles, newly built roads, road traffic accidents (RTAs), mortality rate per 100 000 populations and per 10 000 vehicles in high-altitude provinces, including Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Chongqing. These provincial data were reviewed retrospectively, with the national data as the reference. Statistical analysis (i.e., t test) was used to compare the estimated average annual change rate of population, number of registered drivers, registered vehicles, and newly built roads in high-altitude provinces with the national rates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with the national data, there are significantly higher annual rates of population growth in Tibet and Xinjiang, registered drivers in Gansu, registered vehicles in Gansu, Sichuan, and Chongqing, and newly built roads in Tibet and Qinghai. Among the investigated provinces, Tibet, Qinghai, and Yunnan had a higher proportion of the roads with the high class. RTAs and RTA-induced casualties in the high-altitude provinces indicated a decreasing trend. The mortality rate per 10 000 vehicles and per 100 000 populations showed a decreasing trend, while the RTA-related mortality rate in Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Gansu remained high.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Major changes for road traffic in high-altitude provinces have occurred over the past decade; however, the RTA-related mortality rate in high-altitude provinces has remained high. This study furthers understanding about road traffic safety in China; further studies on road traffic safety at high altitude should be performed.
authors.affiliation: Chongqing Key Laboratory of Vehicle Crash/Bio-Impact and Traffic Safety, Department 4th, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Chongqing Key Laboratory of Vehicle Crash/Bio-Impact and Traffic Safety, Department 4th, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Chongqing Key Laboratory of Vehicle Crash/Bio-Impact and Traffic Safety, Department 4th, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Hongyi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Chongqing Key Laboratory of Vehicle Crash/Bio-Impact and Traffic Safety, Department 4th, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Zhikang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Chongqing Key Laboratory of Vehicle Crash/Bio-Impact and Traffic Safety, Department 4th, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Zhengguo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000531:Altitude; D002681:China; D018986:Motor Vehicles / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*