China to launch special traffic campaign after fatal crashes

China will launch a five month-long special campaign starting next month aimed to curb the number of traffic accidents after a series of fatal collisions, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said on Wednesday. Huang Ming, vice minister of the MPS, told a nationwide videophone meeting that the campaign will focus mostly on speeding, overloading and fatigue driving, saying that these illegal acts will be severely punished according to related laws and regulations. Huang added that ensuring the safety of passenger coaches will be the top priority of the campaign, and the police will adopt a zero tolerance policy to the drivers of passenger coaches. Thirty-five people were killed and 20 others injured in an expressway accident in north China's port city of Tianjin earlier this month. Another accident took place six days earlier when a sleeper coach plunged into a river in central China's Hubei Province, killing 16 people, and injuring 19. Huang said that among the 19 road accidents that happened this year killing more than 10 people each, 10 accidents were involved overloaded vehicles. He urged police nationwide to improve their patrols and inspections of high crash areas.