Serious traffic accidents during China's forty-day lunar new year peak travel season dropped 84.6 percent compared with that of 2004, said the Ministry of Communications, Friday.

The peak travel season will conclude Saturday. The ministry said major traffic accidents dropped 31 percent. The number of people who died or were wounded in road accidents decreased 46.2 percent and 47.1 percent compared with that of 2004.

During the forty days, more than 700,000 buses have carried 1.8 billion passengers, 3.7 percent more than that of 2004.

During the "golden week," from New Years Day Feb. 9 to Feb. 15, highways transported 194 million passengers, up 4.8 percent. Feb. 6 was a peak day with highways sending about 54.9 million passengers.

Passengers mainly traveled between major cities in southeast China's Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, and north China's Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province, to their neighboring areas. Many passengers took short-distance buses, the ministry said.

About 20,000 ships transported 27.6 million passengers, up 1.8 percent. Among the travelers, more than 67,000 were Taiwanese, 3 percent more than the same term of 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2005)