The nation's holiday economy, as expected, reached new heights during the recent National Day break. Also on the rise, meanwhile, was the number of accidents, showing that more still should be done to ensure safety during the holiday rush, according to an article in Jinghua Times. Excerpts:

Statistics show that during Golden Week, China welcomed more than 300 million visitors, a year-on-year increase of 18.8 percent, while tourism revenue hit 145.8 billion yuan ($22.87 billion), a rise of 25.1 percent year-on-year. The 119 registered scenic spots received 24.33 million people and generated 1.25 billion yuan from entrance tickets.

However, besides the country's robust holiday economy, such statistics also raise concern about safety, as hundreds of millions of people went traveling and shopping all at once.

Take the recent National Day holiday, for example. Dozens of people were killed in an expressway accident in North China's port city of Tianjin on the last day of the weeklong break. On the very same day, several other fatal accidents happened in Central China's Henan province and East China's Anhui province.

Road accidents can easily occur during holidays. The most common causes of crashes, including overloading, speeding and drunken driving, can be more dangerous during holidays due to the heavy flow of passengers. And mistakes, whether they are made by drivers, passengers or related authorities, will only make things even worse.

Before celebrating the holiday's economic successes, it should be noted that safety concerns cannot simply make way for economic pursuit. They deserve more attention.

(China Daily 10/11/2011 page9)