Statistics from Changning Traffic and Patrol Police Brigade show that in 1999, of the 3,524 traffic accidents that occurred, 2,680 - 76 per cent of the total - involved immature drivers who had three years' driving experience or less. Of the 38 fatal accidents, 21 involved new drivers.

"It is not an exaggeration to say these new drivers are killers on the streets," said Cheng Ming, director of Accident Prevention Department of Shanghai Traffic and Patrol Police Brigade General.

"The streets in the city have become something like a playground for these new drivers," said Cheng. "And people's lives are at risk."

Cheng said it is quite normal for new drivers to make mistakes, but in recent years, the proportion of new drivers causing traffic accidents has increased sharply beyond the normal range.

Out of control

Two decades ago, especially before the shift towards a market economy began in the mid-1990s, each factory, company or institution would choose staff to be trained as drivers.

In recent years however, many people in China have become eager to learn to drive. Learning to drive has become a personal act, no longer completely within the control of the authorities.

College students, white-collar workers and business people are all learning to drive.

Many laid-off workers in Shanghai are also learning so that they can make a living as taxi drivers. As a result, driving schools have mushroomed in every district and county in Shanghai.

Authorities of the seven-year-old Dazhong Driving Training Centre told Shanghai Star the centre trains 1,500 people a year and in 1999 the centre trained a record high number of 1,700 people.

It is estimated that every year more than 30,000 people are trained as drivers in the city.

Practice makes perfect. But the fact is that many people who have driving licences in fact don't have cars to drive. Since they lack practical experience, a high proportion of them are involved in traffic accidents.

Loopholes

A decade ago, learning to drive and taking the test took half a year. But now the whole process has been condensed into three months as training schools are eager to earn money from people who line up to be trained as "drivers."

In Shanghai, the training course for new drivers is even shorter. It now usually consists of a week of theoretical study and 45 days of practice. Eight students are grouped into a team with a driving instructor and a car. Many students play truant and qualify despite skipping lessons.

In other countries such as Singapore, one driving instructor teaches one student in one car. Singaporean police only permit designated training schools. The police keep a record of all training schools. If they find out that trainees from a certain school are often involved in traffic accidents, the police have the right to close the school down.

But in Shanghai, the police have no rights whatsoever to open, designate or close a driving training school.

Most driving schools are located on the outskirts of the city. The open spaces of their training yards are a far cry from the twisting and zigzagging actual road conditions of Shanghai.

Despite the lax training, most student drivers easily pass their driving test which is not made any more taxing by the fact that it has not been updated for years, or that instructors are at liberty to help students during the test.

Taxis top offenders

Of all drivers who cause traffic accidents, taxi-drivers account for the largest proportion.

Most taxi-drivers are laid-off workers and farmers from the suburbs, who desperately need to make money. After a brief period of training, they become taxi-drivers. It usually takes several years for a new driver to become familiar with the roads of Shanghai.

In foreign countries, taxi-drivers are usually aged between 40 and 50 and have many years of driving experience. But in Shanghai, taxi-drivers are usually 25 to 45 years of age and have few years' experience.

The business is very competitive. Today, there are more taxis than people who want to ride in a taxi.

Every day, at any given period, more than half of all taxis on the road are empty. One common problem is that they drive very slowly when scouting for a passenger. And when they spot one they will abruptly change direction at any place unless a policeman is around. As a result, traffic accidents commonly occur when they hit vehicles travelling at normal speeds around them.

In Shanghai, a taxi usually has two drivers who share the work. Usually a taxi-driver has to work 24 hours a day, then he rests a whole day.

They eat at open-air food stands in back alleys. Around the middle of the night they will stop their cars in residential areas or around nightlife hangouts. A passenger will wake up a driver who is taking a nap to ask for a lift. But it is dangerous, for both passenger and driver, for the driver to go on the roads when he or she is sleepy.

Each day, the two taxi-drivers pay their taxi company 350 yuan ($42). The taxi-drivers can keep the rest of the money but pay for all petrol and toll fees themselves.

"We can't earn 350 yuan ($42) in eight hours a day," said a cab driver surnamed Zhang. "So we have to work 24 hours a day."

In Shanghai, most taxi-drivers earn a monthly salary between 1,000 yuan ($120) and 2,000 yuan ($240).

These taxi-drivers are usually exhausted after a whole day's work. Their vision becomes blurred and their minds wander and they tend to cause traffic accidents.

"We are in a business next to begging," said another cabbie surnamed Wang.

"We are just like the rickshaw pullers of the old days," said another driver surnamed Li. "The only difference is that we depend both on our physical strength and the engines.

"Call me a ‘killer on the street' or whatsoever, I don't care," said Li. "You know, everybody needs to make a living and so do I."