Total expands road safety campaign to far-flung areas of China

Total SA, the French oil and gas giant, has trained more than 6,000 children across China, through a national road safety awareness program it launched in 2010.

Bertrand de La Noue, general representative of Total in China, said the campaign was first sparked after officials learned just how many young people lose their lives on the roads.

Since 2001, annual road deaths in China have hovered around 100,000, meaning an average of 270 people are killed every day. Officials say that the number is around 10 times higher than the United States or Europe. Of that total, 18,000 children were being killed annually, or 50 a day.