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Helping China 'belt up'

20 July 2005

Health and police representatives from China's Zhejiang Province last week visited the Monash University Accident Research Centre to examine Victorian road safety initiatives and discuss future research collaborations.

From left: Dr Chen La, Professor Joan Ozanne-Smith, Dr Wang Jianyu, Dr Liu Liqun, Ms Virginia Routley (front), Dr Yu Min, and Mr Zhang Heping.

Professor Joan Ozanne-Smith, chair of injury prevention, and research fellow Ms Virginia Routley hosted the visitors, who toured MUARC's facilities and were briefed on research projects.

Professor Ozanne-Smith said a relationship already existed with the province, south of Shanghai, as Zhoushan -- an island in the province -- was one of two sites for Ms Routley's PhD study on seatbelt-wearing in China.

She said increased seatbelt use could be one key to reducing China's massive road toll of more than 300 deaths a day. Chinese authorities were keen for seatbelt use to be widely implemented by the time Beijing came under world scrutiny during the 2008 Olympic Games, she said.

Mandatory seatbelt use has been one of road injury prevention's great success stories, and Australia has been a leader in the field, with Victoria passing the world's first law to mandate their use in 1970.

"Seatbelts have been almost universally accepted as a highly effective, proven countermeasure for occupant protection in high-income countries," Ms Routley said. "So this is a very exciting and challenging project, because we can play a role in the adoption of seatbelt-wearing in China."

Dr Yu Min, from the Zhejiang Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said the trip had proved useful.

"We hope to establish a long-term relationship with MUARC to benefit our province and our country," he said.

The other visitors were Dr Liu Liqun, deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr Wang Jianyu, director of Zhoushan Centre for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr Chen La, director of the Health Bureau of Putuo District; and Mr Zhang Heping, deputy director of the Transportation Police Division in the Bureau of Public Security of Putuo District.