He said it is important that victims of traffic accidents receive payouts, saying the money will also be a source of comfort to their families.

According to Zhang Zhu-ting's research, 72 percent of the civil cases heard by the courts last year were related to traffic accidents.

Despite the prevalence of such cases, China has no special rules or unified standards governing the awarding of compensation for mental anguish.

"The current regulations haven't specified how the compensation should be counted, which has also proved difficult for legal workers," he said.

He called on legislators to ensure that the amount of compensation increases in accordance with the extent of victims' injuries and disabilities.

"Injuries in China are categorized from one to 10, with one being the most severe," he said. "That can be used as a reference to determine how much compensation victims should receive."

Ding Limin, a professor specializing in traffic safety at Chinese People's Public Security University, said a lot of attention should be paid to how much money is being paid in compensation to victims, saying the amounts should fall within a set range.

In the past, many people did not know what steps they should take to apply for compensation for mental anguish. In recent years, though, far more have become aware of their rights under the law, he said.

"In Western countries, if victims have enough evidence or reason to ask for the compensation, the courts will support their appeals in accordance with various detailed rules and clear standards," he said.

"Traffic accidents cause a lot of harm, not only to victims, but also their families," he said. "Some victims became handicapped or suffered serious injuries, putting both them and their families under a lot of pressure."

He said it will not be easy to adopt standards that ensure that the amount of compensation awarded varies in accordance with the severity of victims' injuries.

"After all, identifying mental damage is a complicated thing," he said. "Different people who have suffered the same injury may still yet exhibit varying extents of mental anguish."

If a man dies in a traffic accident in Beijing, the compensation awarded his family for the mental anguish they suffer is 50,000 yuan ($8,020), according to Ju Xiaoping, a lawyer who works on traffic accident cases at the Yingke Law firm.

"Those who get handicapped in these accidents can also receive the compensation, but this is only a convention in the capital," he said.

In Shandong province, the amount awarded to those who suffered the most severe injuries is about 30,000 yuan, according Li Mingjun.

Yu Lingyun, a traffic law professor at Tsinghua University, said both amounts should be increased. He also called for the amounts awarded to be larger in cities than in rural places.

Contact the writer at caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn