Traffic accidents in 2008 were down by 19 percent from the year earlier due to stepped up road safety measures and better management of commercial vehicles, Xinhua news agency said, citing police statistics.

Along with the 73,484 road fatalities -- about 201 traffic deaths a day -- nearly 305,000 people were injured in last year's road accidents, it said, down 20 percent from 2007.

Economic losses caused by the accidents were estimated to be about 1.01 billion yuan (148 million dollars), it said, down by nearly 16 percent over 2007.

China's roads have been seen as among the most dangerous in the world with more than 81,000 people killed in accidents in 2007, an average of about 223 a day, according to official figures.

Fatalities from road accidents in China nearly doubled as car ownership in the world's most populated nation skyrocketed from 1985 to 2005, a medical report published in June last year said.

From 1985 to 2005, the death rate from road accidents increased by 95 percent, from 3.9 fatalities per 100,000 people to 7.6 per 100,000, according to the paper, authored by US and Chinese researchers and published by the journal Injury Prevention.

The report predicted that road fatalities would continue to rise as car ownership increased.

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