Crash, crash, crash, then car ends up at funeral
November 05, 2006
SHE came face-to-face with death.
Both when she lost control of her car and when it finally came a stop at a funeral.
Madam Chen Su Man, 60, mistook the accelerator for brakes in a moment of panic. And the retired teacher left a 1km-long trail of destruction on Thursday in Tainan city, Taiwan, reported Apple Daily Taiwan.
After a collision with another vehicle at a traffic junction, her white Mitsubishi was seen speeding forward and careening onto the sidewalk of a row of shophouses.
A badly-shaken Madam Chen later kept explaining to the police: 'I wasn't trying to run away. I was just too nervous (after the first collision) and I stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.'
Her car went on to crash into a roadside noodle stall, seven parked motorbikes, a telecommunications distribution box, a mailbox, a fire hydrant and a funeral hearse parked outside a church.
A group of mourners had just carried the coffin from the hearse into the church when the car came roaring in.
After knocking down all the wreaths of the funeral, the car finally came to a stop after crashing into a planter box outside the church.
Miraculously, no one was hurt in the accident.
Witnesses said Madam Chen's car must have been travelling at more than 100 kmh when it lurched into the street.
According to Apple Daily Taiwan, if the accident had happened minutes earlier, the group of mourners at the funeral would have been mowed down.
The damages caused by Madam Chen are estimated at nearly NT$1 million ($47,400).
And because of the wrecked telecommunications distribution box, some 600 households in the area had their phone lines down.
The authorities have said that it will take three days to restore communication lines. Police are still investigating the incident, but Madam Chen has said that she was willing to pay for the damage.
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