With the present growth rate, the number of motor vehicles in Beijing will reach 7 million in 2015 and the average driving speed will slow to 15 kilometers per hour, which is equivalent to a person running at middle speed, according to estimates made by the Beijing Transportation Research Center. People’s Daily Online reported that traffic in Beijing has become a serious concern over the past five years as the city witnessed runaway growth in both population and autos. More than 80% of vehicles are concentrated in urban areas within Beijing’s six ring roads, and the number of cars owned by residents of the city proper is 1.8 times more than their counterparts in Paris, and 2.3 times more than those in New York.