A Chinese woman was ordered by a court to compensate 70,000 yuan (US$9,700) to a pedestrian who suffered bone fractures after suddenly stopping while walking in front of her, resulting in a collision.
The case ignited heated discussions on mainland social media, as many were confused about why the person who walked behind should be responsible for the pedestrian’s injuries.
The court in Qingdao, Shandong province, in eastern China, recently published surveillance video footage of the accident that occurred in May 2023.
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The footage shows that the victim, a 59-year-old woman, surnamed Liu, was walking in a residential compound when she picked up a phone call. She then stopped walking and turned around.
The individual who walked behind her, a 29-year-old woman surnamed Wang, did not pay attention to their surroundings and continued walking fast, bumping into Liu and causing Liu to lose balance and fall on her hip.
Liu suffered from hip fractures and was later identified as having a Grade 10 disability.
Liu took Wang to court and requested compensation of 188,000 yuan (US$26,000), covering the medical and nursing expenses, as well as disability compensation.
Liu insisted that Wang was responsible for her injuries, but Wang argued that she would not have bumped into Liu if Liu had not stopped walking suddenly.
The judge reviewed the surveillance footage and decided that the victim should be partly responsible for the accident because she stopped in the middle of the road.
Wang was also deemed responsible for not looking ahead while walking.
After several court mediation sessions, Wang agreed to compensate Liu 70,000 yuan in instalments.
The case also sparked controversy because the judge originally attributed the accident to Wang “not keeping a safe distance while walking behind Liu.”
China’s Road Traffic Safety Law requires only motor vehicles to maintain a safe distance.
A member of the court’s adjudication committee, surnamed Guo, later corrected the judge, apologised for the inaccurate information, and vowed to improve the quality of its law promotion work.
“I do believe people should keep a greater distance from one another while walking or queuing when there is enough space,” one online observer said.
“It would be a different case if the person in front not only stopped but also walked back, but judging from the video footage, the person behind should be responsible for the accident,” another commented.
Another online observer focused on the judge’s mistake: “The judge should be more cautious when speaking publicly about the case; otherwise, it might have a negative social impact.”
The person was referring to the controversial 2006 case in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, also in eastern China. A young person named Peng Yu helped an elderly woman who had fallen and was lying injured on the road, taking her to the hospital and paying for her initial treatment.
The woman later sued Peng, claiming that Peng had caused her fall.
The judge ruled in her favour, stating that “by common sense” no one would take a stranger to the hospital.
The repercussions of the ruling still linger today, as many people say they would refrain from helping strangers for fear of facing false accusations.
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