Video shows Mercedes ramming taxi in fatal crash
A dramatic traffic video capturing a fatal road accident was shown in court yesterday, as evidence against a businesswoman accused of dangerous driving.
Taken from a taxi, the video was shown in the District Court, where Lam Ying-yu, 40, has pleaded not guilty to one count of causing death by dangerous driving.
Many professional drivers in Hong Kong, such as those in taxis, buses and trucks, have taken to mounting cameras on their dashboards in recent years, to document events on the road in case they ever need to use the material as evidence in court.
Lam is accused of causing the death of labourer Chow Shu-tai, 61. Chow was repairing railings with other workers on Morrison Hill Road, near Sports Road, when the collision occurred on the morning of September 21 last year.
Phil Chau, for the prosecution, said Lam had failed to stop while driving along Morrison Hill Road, despite two stop signs and road markings telling vehicles to stop.
Chau said Lam, who was driving an S350 Mercedes-Benz, had rammed into a taxi - not the one from which the video recording was taken - and that the taxi was propelled 'into the air' and rammed into Chow and other workers.
The video was played in court.
'The CCTV [closed-circuit TV] captured the events leading up to the accident,' Chau said. 'It showed that there were no vehicles in front of NV4058 [the Mercedes]. It showed that the line of vision for NV4058 was clear and it showed that NV4058 did not stop at the stop sign, and NV4058 only braked after [it] had entered the yellow box junction.'
'The CCTV clearly shows the accident and how it was caused by the dangerous driving of the defendant.'
The court heard that at the time of the incident, the weather had been fine and the road surface dry.
Robert Ngan, the driver of the taxi in the collision, said that right before the incident he had seen the Mercedes travelling at a 'fast speed'.
Chow, who died of multiple organ failures and injuries, was employed by a company contracted to work for the Highways Department.
Ngan and two other road workers were injured.
The trial continues.
