THE TOTAL LENGTH of expressways in use reached 131,000 kilometers by the end of 2017, which is the longest in the world. Yet the number of accidents increased, too, causing injuries and deaths, which calls for better emergency response services on highways. Beijing News comments:

Expressways mean not only high efficiency, but also high speeds and high risks. expressway accidents killed 5,925 people in China last year, and the death toll from expressway accidents is twice that of those on ordinary roads.

Although China has a comprehensive expressway services system, with a service area every 50 kilometers, there is only one expressway first aid station nationwide, located in Zhuji Service Zone on the highway linking Hangzhou, Jinhua and Quzhou. Worse, about 59.6 percent of expressway management departments nationwide have not established any system for alerting emergency services in the event of an accident.

Even those that have established contact systems still rely on police cars patrolling the expressways, and the first medical responders to any accidents involving injuries have to be sent from the nearest city. That practice is rather time-consuming and complicated.

Data show that those heavily injured have a survival rate of 80 percent if they receive help within 30 minutes. That drops to 10 percent if the first aid arrives within 90 minutes. That's why the 30 minutes after a traffic accident is called "the golden half-hour".

The total length of expressways in China will reach 169,000 kms in 2020. In order to provide injured people with first aid within half an hour of an accident, it is necessary for expressway management departments to improve their contact system with first aid providers. More important, the higher authorities must build a comprehensive expressway accident system that can coordinate a response to an accident within the 30-minute golden period.