China’s smog problem results in massive traffic pileup!
The smog in China isn’t just a danger to people’s health for the obvious reasons. A massive pileup occurred yesterday as a result of the poor visibility.
The crash involving at least 33 vehicles, travelling on the Taichang Expressway in Tianjin left six dead, four hospitalised and more injured. China’s smog problem is a huge traffic safety issue, due to the poor visibility it causes. The problem is even worse around the major roadways, as this is where the highest levels of smog are found.
Beijing issued a red-alert warning, ordering half of China’s capital to stay of the roads. The accident took place shortly after this, perhaps the warning should come in sooner!
The major contributing factor to the smog problem in China, is the multitude of coal-burning power-plants. However, China have recently agreed to cut back on its reliance to coal and aims to generate 20% of its energy from clean and renewable sources, by 2030.
The pileup accident took place about 145 km from the red-alert area issued by Beijing. The severity of the smog is expected to persist for the next few days at least and it seems that the whole of Northern China face these conditions.
Source: Jalopnik