SHANGHAI, March 31 (Xinhuanet) -- It is not surprising at all in China to see large crowds of parents and grandparents outside the gates of primary schools, waiting to escort their children home atthe end of a school day.

    Most of them are doing this for fear of road accidents, which are killing over 18,500 children under 14 years old in China each year.

    Sources say this is 2.5 times the figure reported in Europe and2.6 times the US figure.

    "Traffic accidents, of all accidents, have become the second largest killer for Chinese children, next only to drowning," said Martin Eichelberger, president and chief executive officer of SafeKids Worldwide.

    His organization has joined hands with the Shanghai municipal committee of China's Communist Youth League, the municipal women'sfederation and Federal Express, a US-based courier service, in a program that aims to protect Shanghai's 450,000 primary school students from road accidents.

    "Children should learn to protect themselves and abide by traffic rules in order to minimize risks," said Cui Minyan, an executive with the China division of Safe Kids Worldwide. "But howto make roads safer for our children is a big task for adults."

    The program, launched in the eastern metropolis Tuesday, advises children to wear hats and raincoats in bright colors on their way to be more noticeable to drivers, and warns those under 10 years old not to go into busy streets alone.

    Two out of every 10,000 children in Shanghai die from road accidents, and experts say children walking on busy streets unaccompanied are most vulnerable to accidents.

    A nationwide survey by a disease prevention and control organization in China shows more than three quarters of minor injury victims in road accidents had suddenly dashed into the roadand left no time for the drivers to brake.

    Another survey, conducted earlier this year in Shanghai, has found that 65 percent of the city's primary school students have to walk to school, more than half of whom have to walk for 30 minutes, but only 15 percent of them are accompanied by adults.

    At least 50 percent of the young walkers have had risks on their way, according to the survey that tracked 600 Shanghai children aged between eight and 10.

    Some 40 percent of the students surveyed said they had had difficulty crossing streets where no traffic lights were installedor zebra crossings painted to ensure their safety.

    Half of the respondents said they had encountered aggressive drivers and cyclists who refused to slow down even at crossings, while 87 percent of them had to walk on the road, when the sidewalks had been occupied by cyclists and peddlers.

    Statistics show that in 2003, approximately 300 people were killed in car accidents on average each day in China.

    The horrendous road toll is fueled by an increasing car frenzy in China, with car production topping 4 million in the first 11 months of 2003.

    In 2003, the Chinese national capital Beijing registered more than 2 million vehicles, including over 900,000 private cars, while one in three urban residents in the municipality has a driving license. Enditem