BEIJING - China is tightening the issuance of drivers' licenses by increasing the difficulty of the test and building a backtracking supervision system -- a bid to curb the increase in road accident-related fatalities, the country's traffic authorities said Friday.

Li Jiangping, deputy director of the Traffic Management Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security, said license applicants will take the simulation driving test on roads with sharp turns, in rainy and snowy weather and on wet roads.

Applicants will also take real road tests featuring complicated situations such as mountainous roads, channels and expressways. The road test will be randomly chosen from at least three test courses, Li said.

In the meantime, in a bid to help prospective motorists choose high-quality driving schools, traffic management departments at various levels will release information about driving schools every month, including the schools' capacities, pass/fail rates, and the rates of drivers' traffic offenses within three years of obtaining their licenses.

Authorities have also established a backtracking system to determine what party was responsible for issuing licenses in the event that a traffic accident leads to fatalities, Li said.

These measures come amid a continuing increase in the volume of motor vehicles in the country. As more vehicles have hit the road, driving skills have seen a marked drop and the number of traffic accidents has climbed.

Traffic management departments at various levels will strengthen punishments for severe traffic violations, according to Li.?