Shopper killed by drunk in cop van

Over 3,000 drunk drivers arrested last weekend

By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-24 10:11

A woman was killed when a drunken driver in a police van mowed her down on a pedestrian crossing.

The incident happened as the 43-year-old victim, surnamed Huang, shopped with her cousin at around 10 pm in downtown Xiamen, Fujian province.

Both were struck by the van but Huang took most of the force and was thrown 20m by the collision, said police. She died later in hospital.

The driver, Fan Ronghua, was detained at the scene last Thursday night after a blood test showed his alcohol level was 20 mg to 100 ml of blood, pushing him over the legal limit.

Police said his passenger was an official from the city's public security bureau surnamed Wang who had joined Fan for dinner.

Fan was asked to drive because Wang was too drunk, said a police spokesman, who added the official will face punishment for allowing his vehicle to be driven by a civilian.

Huang's cousin, a man surnamed Xie, 39, who was also injured, recalled the police van had been 10 m away when they were midway across Zhongshan Road.

"I thought it was safe to cross, but after it hit me it ran straight into Huang without braking," he said.

An eyewitness surnamed Wu added: "I've never seen anyone drive so fast near a pedestrian crossing. It was irresponsible."

This tragedy came just one week into a two-month nationwide crackdown on drunken drivers launched by the Ministry of Public Security.

Traffic police have stopped about 15,000 drunken drivers since Aug 15, around 2,052 - 13 percent - of whom had a blood-alcohol content of 80 mg per 100 ml or above, said the ministry in a statement on Saturday.

Most were caught in Zhejiang, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, as well as Shanghai and Beijing, while noon to 3 pm and 7 pm to 1 am were the worst periods for offences, said the ministry's traffic management bureau.

It added that 70 percent of drunken drivers were stopped after having dinner.

Men made up 98 percent of the offenders, with 72 percent aged between 30 and 49, while 97 percent were private car owners, the statement said.

"The police will continue to clamp down on drivers under the influence of alcohol after the two-month campaign," said Liu Chunyu, a traffic management bureau official.

"It was illegal before the campaign and we will attach more importance to the daily management of the problem in the future."