Accidents turned lives upside down

Zhang Xiulan, a Beijing resident in her 40s

Life for me is running between hospital and home. It's been that way since Oct 31, the day my 66-year-old mother was hit by a minivan.

It happened at about 3 pm in Beijing's Shijingshan district, close to the West Fifth Ring Road. She had been sitting on a curb, taking a rest, when the van run her over, causing multiple fractures of her left leg.

The man behind the wheel, from Shandong province, was drunk and crashed into a car before hitting my mother. He has been detained.

Our family has been a mess since the accident. We've paid more than 50,000 yuan ($8,000) in medical fees out of our own pockets because the driver's wife says she has no money. I have had to take leave from work because I have to care for my mother and father who also has health problems and had been hospitalized before the accident.

The driver's wife said she runs a small business and has promised she will pay compensation for our medical fees and mental anguish, but nearly a month has passed and we've received neither.

Police say the driver must face criminal punishment first, and it could take at least three more months before we can claim compensation.

When I think about the accident and the trouble it has brought, I get a headache. I'm worried about the compensation, as the lawyer says the court may not see my mother's injury as that serious. I've been told to lower my expectations.

Yin Qiming, 33, a media company employee

My uncle, Cen Quanheng, was killed as he rode home from work in October 2007. He was 55.

He had been heading north on Zhapu Road in Shanghai and was crossing an intersection when a mixing truck ran him down as it turned right. My uncle died at the scene.

The accident brought great sorrow and pressure to our family, especially my aunt.

When my uncle didn't come home that night, she initially thought he had stayed out to play cards with friends, which he'd done before. She started to worry because she couldn't contact him the next day.

She called every police station along his route home and eventually learned the bad news.

I went to the mortuary with my aunt to identify the body. I will never forget the sight. Nor can I forget my mother and aunt's cries of anguish. Although the family received more than 400,000 yuan ($64,000) in compensation, it did nothing to dispel the sorrow.

My uncle was my mother's youngest brother. His daughter lives in Australia and rarely returned home, so our two families had a close relationship, and I often visited my aunt and uncle at holidays. Such visits aren't as frequent these days. My mother often asks me to go see my aunt, but I'm uneasy about it because I don't know what to say to her.

The tragedy has turned into something we're all afraid to remember, and the two families seem further away today.

- Cao Yin

(China Daily 11/19/2012 page3)