China’s drivers are generally a cautious bunch. It’s fairly rare to witness the sight of cars racing relatively common in many western countries. Not so in Nanjing last week, when seven drivers took to racing through one of the city’s primary tunnels, resulting in near-fatal collisions.
It was reported yesterday that the accident took place last Friday, 9 April, at 20:23 in Nanjing’s Xi’an Men Tunnel, namely the section of Longpan Lu that takes it under the intersection with Zhujiang Lu.
But this was no testosterone-fuelled act of road rage. On the contrary, the race was very much premeditated.
A police report has revealed that seven drivers gathered by Baima Park, before setting off together to enter the tunnels under Longpan Lu from the north. A high-speed chase ensued, in which two of the racers’ cars collided with regular traffic within the tunnel.
Exciting dash cam footage of the crash has been published by The Paper and can be seen via this link.
The footage captures one of the racers speeding past at well over the 60 kilometre-per-hour speed limit that is the standard in tunnels of this type. The racer also crosses the meridian separating the tunnel’s three lanes, which while not illegal, is behaviour regarded as no no.
The bystander’s car is then hit violently from behind and spun around, colliding with the vehicles adjacent. Screeching tires makes for a soundtrack and add a further touch of drama.
Nanjing police wasted no time in identifying and rounding up the racers. The seven drivers involved were arrested and detained on suspicion of dangerous driving.
Three of the drivers involved were revealed as being surnamed Pan, Su and Wang. While no casualties were reported, the dash cam footage of the crash reveals that situation could have turned out very different.
