One killed as taxi ploughs into joggers on deserted Chinese road
Legal experts debate who’s to blame as video shows driver failing to notice group of runners carrying a huge flag
One person was killed and two others were injured on Saturday when a taxi ploughed into a group of joggers on a deserted stretch of motorway in eastern China, local media reported.
A video of the incident, released by Shandong Television on Monday, shows a group of about 30 people running in two lines along a road in Linyi, Shandong province.
They are mostly dressed in turquoise T-shirts and dark shorts, and a person at the front of the group is carrying a large red flag.
Aside from a few parked cars and a construction crane on the side of the road, the highway is completely empty, until a taxi comes into shot and drives straight into the group from behind.
A man at the back of the group spots the vehicle at the last moment and manages to jump clear, but several of his running mates are not so lucky and are thrown into the air by the force of the impact.
The television report quoted police as saying that the crash, which happened about 5.20am, was the fault of the taxi driver, who was not paying due care and attention.