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Stephen Chen

A motorist who ran over and killed a policeman in Shanghai did not realise he had moments earlier committed a traffic offence and thought the officer was picking on him, investigators have revealed.
Photographs and video of the incident have prompted a discussion on the internet in China about some of the reckless driving on the country’s roads and whether traffic police should issued with guns to give them more protection and power to stop offenders.

Watch: Driver exchanges words with policeman
The driver of a BMW four-wheel drive car was spotted by traffic officer Mao Shengquan pulling over into a centre lane at a busy junction in the Minxing district to illegally make a left turn, according to surveillance camera footage released by the traffic authorities.
Mao told the driver to move out of the lane, but the driver remonstrated with him.
“What do you mean? We are all in a rush, is this necessary?” he was recorded as saying on Mao’s police radio and also a video camera in the driver’s car.
When the traffic light turned green, the BMW driver accelerated hard and Mao grabbed the BMW’s door frame.

The policeman was thrown into the air, landing heavily, with equipment including his radio scattered on floor.
He later died in hospital of his injuries. He was 32, with his wife expecting their first child in a month.
The BMW driver, aged 32, stopped after about 100 metres and gave himself in.
Sun Jian, chief investigator of serious crimes unit at the Minxing police bureau, told the Shanghai Morning Post the driver had been arrested for causing intentional injury.
“He made two serious mistakes. First, turning left from a straight moving lane. Secondly, he disobeyed a police order,” he was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
“The suspect did not realise he had violated traffic regulations. He thought he had the right to turn left. He only admitted he stepped on the gas pedal too heavily.”
Drivers routinely ignore traffic regulations in China, including jumping traffic lights, driving through lines of pedestrians when they have a green light to cross roads, parking in cycle lanes and blocking emergency exits.
Some cities such as Shenzhen do allow traffic police to carry firearms, but Shanghai does not.
A study published the medical journal The Lancet last year said more people were killed in traffic accidents in China than by cancer.
More than 87,000 people died on the country's roads in the first ten months of last year, according to figures from the Ministry of Public Security.
 
 


Motorist who ran over and killed Shanghai traffic cop thought officer was ‘picking on him’

Surveillance camera footage of the accident in Shanghai. Photos: SCMP Pictures

Video footage from inside the car as traffic officer Mao Shengquan asks the driver to move out of the lane. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The picture taken from official surveillance footage shows the policeman talking to the driver shortly before his death. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Road accidents kill more people in China than cancers, Lancet study finds

Rescuers work at the site of a road accident on State Highway. Photo: Xinhua

There were just 24 million cars in 2003 but by last year that number had exploded to 137 million, with 31 cities having more than 1 million cars each, according to the ministry. Photo: AFP

A police officer takes a look at an injured man on the road beside his electric bicycle in Beijing. Photo: AFP

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China

Killing of policeman causes outrage and debate over dangerous driving in China


Motorist who ran over and killed Shanghai traffic cop thought officer was ‘picking on him’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Killing of policeman causes outrage and debate over dangerous driving in China

Killing of policeman causes outrage and debate over dangerous driving in China