A 50-vehicle traffic accident on a highway in Sichuan province leaves two dead and 34 injured on Wednesday. The accident was caused by heavy smog. Provided to China Daily

Drivers urged to pay close attention to traffic conditions, reduce their speed in poor visibility

The country's 10 most dangerous stretches of road were named by the transport management authority on Wednesday as a warning to travelers during the 40-day Spring Festival holiday rush.

The road sections are mostly on national or controlled-access highways and have a total length of 153 km. They were the site of 1,203 road accidents and 451 deaths last year, the Ministry of Public Security's Transport Management Bureau said in an online statement.

China's transport sector has been working at maximum capacity since the start of the month as hundreds of millions of journeys are made during the annual travel peak. Spring Festival begins on Feb 19, and the bureau said there will be a sharp increase in road traffic as people nationwide return home for family reunions.

More than 3.28 billion road trips were made during last year's Spring Festival travel rush, according to the Ministry of Transport.

The most dangerous stretch of road in 2014 was a section of National Highway 102 joining Hebei province and Tianjin, where 149 people died in 279 accidents. Most of the accidents involved frontal or side collisions.

The second-most deadly stretch was part of National Highway 104 in Shandong province, where 298 accidents took place and 80 people died.

A section of National Highway 327 in Shandong province came third on the list, with a total of 67 people killed in 200 accidents.

The authority said drivers using the sections of road should pay close attention to traffic conditions and proceed cautiously. In addition, they should slow down in poor visibility and when passing through junctions.

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn