Holiday safety advice for homecoming motorcyclists

Migrant workers drive over a thousand miles back to their hometowns on their motorcycles for the upcoming Spring Festival on February 9, 2015. Riding home by motorcycles has become a special phenomenon during the Spring Festival travel rush which started earlier this month. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Chinese police authorities on Tuesday sounded a warning about motorcycle safety as many migrant workers are set to return home on two wheels for the Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, which falls on Feb. 19 this year, is known as the world's biggest migration, with millions of migrant workers traveling vast distances for family reunions. Some of them do it by motorcycle, often riding for days.

According to official statistics, last year's festival saw 600,000 migrant workers ride motorcycles from Guangdong Province mainly to Guangxi and Guizhou, the major exporters of labor.

The journey is tough but money-saving. A ticket for the high-speed train can easily cost hundreds of yuan.

And during the travel rush around the festival, tickets can be hard to come by, especially for migrants unfamiliar with online booking. A total of 2.8 billion trips are expected from Feb. 4 to March 14.

Police reminded motorcyclists to carry at most one passenger and not to carry children under 12.