BEIJING -- China reported 241,734 road accidents in first nine months of this year, down 15.8 percent, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
The number of fatalities reached 57,268, with more than 288,490 injured, causing direct property losses of 850 million yuan ($111.8 million), said the traffic management department under the ministry.
Compared with the same period last year, the number of deaths was down 13 percent, injuries dropped 13.4 percent and the amount of property losses caused by road accidents was down 27 percent, it said.
Twenty-one "serious accidents", namely accidents with the number of deaths of each exceeding ten, occurred in the first nine months, down 34.4 percent. These accidents killed 323 people, down 28.9 percent, the department said.
