1 in 10 drivers admit they drive after drink

Chinese drivers are urged to take heed of advice about safe driving now that China has issued more than 300 million driving licenses.

Since drunk driving was made a crime in 2011, the number of traffic accidents caused by drunk driving has been reduced by 25 percent, with casualties down nearly 40 percent, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

However, a recent report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and US insurance company AIG found that more than 10 percent of Chinese drivers admitted that they occasionally drive after drinking.

Released on Dec 8, the Blue Paper on Road Safety and Driving Risks also found that and nearly 15 percent of them don't wear safety belts and 34 percent－around one in three－drivers had experienced periods of "absentmindedness" when driving.

More than half of young parents had not installed child seats for their kids.

The report was based on a nationwide survey of 1,083 drivers aged from 21 to 64 this year.

About 95 percent of them had obtained their driving license within the past 10 years.

More disturbing than the acts of the drivers is their inaction although they know such acts are dangerous, said Wang Junxiu, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and author of the blue paper.

The report shows an overwhelming majority of the respondents acknowledge it is "extremely dangerous" to drive after drinking or without safety belts.

"They think that nothing will happen to them and just go along with it," Wang told China Daily.

In addition to urging drivers to behave rationally, he said the traffic authorities should give a helping hand, adding that sometimes the police will turn a blind eye to such things as driving without safety belts.

Eric Zheng, president and CEO of AIG China, said the research findings would be sent to traffic authorities as a reference for legislation as "at least those sitting in backseats are not legally required to wear safety belts".

Zheng said it is also important to improve awareness of road safety at schools. "Children will be stricter regulators than the police as parents want to set positive examples for them."

However, he admitted that it would take some time for Chinese drivers to take road safety seriously. China has been in the so-called auto society for little more than 20 years, while the US has 75 years' experience.

"In the US, grandpa taught dad to drive and dad taught son to drive. In China, all those three generations are learning to drive together."

Zheng said it was time to improve attitudes, as by the end of 2013 there were already 31 cities that had more than one million vehicles.

"Road accidents are killing more people than we imagine. Those who died in accidents in 2008 totaled nearly 74,000, more than the death toll in the catastrophic Wenchuan earthquake in the same year," said Zheng.