Woman struck by car fights for her life

By Dong Hui  |   2009-5-18  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A 50-YEAR-OLD woman was still unconscious in hospital yesterday, showing no sign of recovering, three days after being hit by a car at a pedestrian crossing on Huaihai Road M.

"Her heart is still beating, but all of her other body functions are controlled by a machine now," said the woman's elder sister. "It was a tragedy... it changed the life of whole family."

The woman surnamed Jiang was hit by a silver BMW with a Shanghai license plate on Thursday evening when crossing the junction of Huaihai Road M. and Shaanxi Road S. The driver of the car, a man in his 20s, was taken into custody, police said.

The accident drew much public attention as a week earlier a driver hit and killed a 25-year-old man on a downtown pedestrian walkway while racing on the streets in Hangzhou, capital of neighboring Zhejiang Province. Hu Bin, a 20-year-old university student, was facing vehicular manslaughter chargers after driving a modified Mitsubishi sports car one-and-a-half times the speed limit.

The driver in the Shanghai accident attends a famous Shanghai university, his father told Jiang's relatives when paying 50,000 yuan (US$7,325) for medical expenses. The man was driving his mother's car, the father said.

"I read about the Hangzhou accident and many similar car accidents," said Jiang's brother-in-law. "I just wish these drivers would show respect to other peoples' lives when they are driving. By all means, he shouldn't start his car that fast without checking first on such a busy, crowded downtown road."

Witnesses said the car revved its engine, changed lanes when the light turned from red to yellow and passed a bus before it struck Jiang. The force of the impact knocked her 2 meters into the air, passers-by said.

Police said they were checking video footage to determine responsibility.

More than 100 friends and colleagues have visited Jiang, who raises a 22-year-old son on her own.