ROAD ACCIDENTS IN CHINA KILL 56 IN 1 DAY

CHINA: CAR ACCIDENTS MAKE
FOR A DEADLY END TO HOLIDAY

BBC News - After surpassing the United States in 2009 to become the world’s largest car market, China is confronting the dangers of motoring.  On Friday, the end of a weeklong holiday, 56 people were killed in three car accidents across China, according to the official New China News Agency. Roads were overly busy with vehicles returning from holiday trips.  In the deadliest of the accidents, 35 people were killed and 18 injured when a bus carrying college students returning from a school break collided with a car in Tianjin, a port city about 70 miles southeast of Beijing.  A Tianjin traffic official said the bus was speeding and many passengers were thrown from the vehicle when it hit the car and rolled over, the New China News agency reported.

Meanwhile, in Anhui province in central China 10 people were killed and 19 injured in a 24-car pileup. Traffic officials blamed heavy fog and low visibility.  11 other people were killed when a van collided with a truck on an expressway in central China’s Henan province, according to the Shanghai Daily. The driver of the truck fled the scene but was later apprehended by police.  Car accidents are common in China because many motorists ignore traffic laws.  More than 100,000 people die in automobile crashes every year in China, making the nation’s roads the deadliest in the world. Last year, 13.8 million passenger cars were sold in China.  Overall, 18.1 million vehicles were produced in China, a 32.4% increase from 2009. Last month, the total number of cars in China hit 100 million.

Three major road accidents in China killed 56 people on the last day of a weeklong holiday, including 35 people who died when a bus collided with a car on a northern expressway.  Serious traffic accidents are common in China due to often overloaded vehicles and poorly trained drivers who often ignore traffic laws.  Road crashes in China kill an estimated 100,000 and injure nearly half a million every year according to the UN's world health body.  This material world is full of nasty surprises that happen at any time and only the Holy Name of the Lord is our refuge.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

One who is intelligent understands that there is a great and supreme authority above everything.  That great authority appears in different incarnations to save the innocent from disturbances. ... In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord clearly says, mrityuh sarva-haraś cāham: "I am all-devouring death." Thus mrityu, or death, is the representative who takes everything away from the living entity who has accepted a material body. ... We are always in danger because at any moment death can take place.  It is not that only Gajendra, the King of the elephants, was afraid of death.  Everyone should fear death because everyone is caught by the crocodile of eternal time and may die at any moment.  The best course, therefore, is to seek shelter of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and be saved from the struggle for existence in this material world, in which one repeatedly takes birth and dies.  To reach this understanding is the ultimate goal of life. 

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam”
Purport in Canto 8: “Withdrawal of the Cosmic Creations”
Chapter 2: “The Elephant Gajendra’s Crisis” - Verse 33
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003 (Folio)