Two Dead after Under-aged, Unlicensed Driver Loses Control of Vehicle
A 17-year-old girl and a 28-year-old man died at the scene of an accident in Chiayi City this morning after a 17-year-old unlicensed driver lost control of his vehicle at high speed, and bowled over a scooter rider before slamming into a building.
Three teenagers were traveling in the car after completing night classes and going out to eat. At around 12:45am, the driver of the car, named Zhuang, was obviously speeding in the 50 kilometer per hour speed limited zone when a 62-year-old man named Weng, riding a scooter, pulled out into the road from a side street, oblivious to oncoming traffic.
Traffic surveillance footage revealed that Zhuang hit the brakes in an attempt to avoid hitting Mr Weng, sending the car drifting sideways almost 180 degrees, narrowly missing the scooter before crossing the double yellow lines into oncoming traffic and hitting a 28-year-old scooter rider named Hsieh.
Zhuang’s car then slammed into a restaurant, bounced off the wall, and landed on its roof. A 17-year-old female high-school student named Zhong, who was sitting in the back seat of Zhuang’s car was thrown out of the vehicle on impact, and lost vital signs at the scene of the accident. Zhong was later declared dead at the hospital, while Hsieh, who was thrown several meters into the air on impact, was obviously dead at the scene.
Zhuang and a 16-year-old male in the front passenger seat suffered minor lacerations, and did not require hospitalization.
Both the driver and the scooter rider, Mr Weng were handed over to prosecutors to be investigated for the crime of negligent death.
According to investigations, Zhuang had purchased the car for NT$90,000, but it was registered to a person in Taichung City.
Zhuang claimed that he had been driving at around 90 kilometers per hour at the time of the accident.
Police traced the scooter rider named Weng via his registration plate. Weng had crossed two lanes and apparently intended to cross the double yellow lines before he heard Zhuang’s car’s screeching tires behind him.
According to Weng’s statements to police, he had intended to cross the road to the restaurant to buy some braised pork. Upon hearing the braking car, he swerved right. After witnessing the accident, Weng said that he lost his appetite, and as the crash was none of his affair, he went home to rest.
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When are y’all going to figure out that the whole adjective string needs to be hyphenated? “17 year-old” should always be “17-year-old,” unless you’re going with something like “17 year-old puppies” (i.e., 17 puppies who are a year old).
Thanks for the advice. I’ll add it to the Taiwan English News style guide.
The old man pulls out without even looking, like he was the most important or only person in the world.
If this were a test case in the MIT “Moral Machine,” it wouldn’t be a hard decision.