Roller-blade rush ends in death

By Jessie Dong  |   2008-11-19  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

POLICE are warning the city's expanding ranks of skating enthusiasts, including many foreigners, that all forms of foot wheels are not only banned from the streets, they're also very dangerous.

Xu Feng, who was the 21-year-old son of a farm family in Hubei Province, became the first skater to be killed in a Shanghai traffic accident when he collided with a car last month in Luwan District.

Xu became attracted to skating shortly after he moved to Shanghai last summer and often used his roller blades to commute around town, police investigators said.

He was killed around midnight on October 11 while rolling through a red light at the intersection of Julu Road and Ruijin No. 1 Road, police said. Riding against the traffic flow, he was knocked down by a minibus.

The skater was moving along at nearly 24 kilometers per hour when he crashed, police said, judging from roadside surveillance videos. His speed even surpassed the 15km/h limit set for mopeds.

Plants along the roadside made it impossible for the driver to notice the skater's approach, police said.

"He appeared suddenly in front of my car and was very, very close," said the driver, surnamed Jin.

Jin swerved to the right, but his car ended up crashing into a utility pole, with the young man in between.

The driver was slightly injured, while the skater died of brain damage hours after he was rushed to a hospital. Police said that roller blades, roller skates and skateboards cannot be used on the street.