Killer roads in rural areas

The death of a girl in Zhengzhou reveals the safety problems in rural roads, says an article in Beijing News. The following is an excerpt:

Last Monday, a 9-year-old girl on her way to school was run over by a truck as she tried to drag her shoes off the street after they had stuck to the melted blacktop. It is said that this blacktop street was just completed late last year, but since this summer, it has been quite common for people to see their shoes sticking to the street.

We can see from the picture of this road in the newspaper that it is greasy and wet and makes it easy for people to leave footprints on it. But local transport authorities argued that this blacktop road is completely up to the grade and is built according to the national standards for third-level roads. The appearance of the greasy condition is due to its over-use by trucks and to the current hot weather. They did not agree with the advice by some experts that the road should be re-paved with blacktop.