"Every year, extreme weather results in direct economic losses equivalent to 3 to 6 percent of China's GDP," said Zhang Guocai, director of the National Climate Center, at a three-day International Symposium on Climate Change which ended Wednesday.

According to Zhang, rainfall, snowfall, glazed frost and fog are the main causes of traffic accidents because they generate slippery and wet road surfaces and reduce visibility.

In the winter, experts say, traffic accidents increase by 25 percent on snowy or rainy days, while in the summer, they are more prevalent in rainy areas.

Statistics show that annual economic losses incurred by China's railway departments as a result of floods range from 350 million yuan to more than one billion yuan. In 2002 only, the arteries of China's railway were damaged and disrupted more than 140 times.

Chen Deliang, scientist with the center, said, apart from rainfall and snowfall, fog has become another terrible highway " killer."

To reduce and avoid losses generated by weather-related traffic accidents, China should set up a more effective "transportation weather information system" to monitor potential extreme weather events and to inform the traffic administrative departments and the public in a timely manner, experts suggest.

(eastday.com April 3, 2003)