Daily Lessons from Life 13 July 2009

" Mon, Jul 13, 2009 China Daily/Asia News Network - 74-year-old attacks cars that run light

A retired teacher has become an Internet sensation after he lobbed dozens of bricks at cars that ran a red light at an intersection in Lanzhou, Gansu province.

"I just want to catch people's attention and tell the drivers to think of pedestrians," the 74-year-old man told Lanzhou Morning Post on Saturday.


Many residents in the community applauded his behavior and two elderly men joined the former teacher, while others found them more bricks and brought them water. More than 30 cars were damaged during last Thursday's incident, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The elderly man, whose name is unknown, has attracted a lot of attention online, with nearly 400,000 netizens responding to a Sina.com poll. Nearly 80 percent said they supported his actions.


The man became a crusader for road safety after a female pedestrian was killed in his community last year. He successfully lobbied the local police for traffic lights at the intersection.

He said motorists still go through the red light when they want to turn. "Even when the light is green, drivers just ignore it and don't slow down for pedestrians," the man told the paper.

In order to punish drivers and draw attention to poor driving habits, the man planned to throw bricks at all cars that ran red lights for one week, starting last Thursday, but police stopped him on the first night. The man was interviewed and later released without charge.

The man said he knew his behavior was illegal but he had tried all he could and it did not help.

Guo Shouan, director of Qilihe traffic police department in Lanzhou, told the Post it will put traffic police on duty at night and apply for cameras to be installed to safeguard the residents.

Last year, 73,484 people died in car accidents, according to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security."

I salute the old retired teacher for his conviction and boldness to take actions to bring attention to the issue of dangerous and poor driving in his neigbourhood.

Lessons for me are:

1. sometimes we have to take unconventional and unorthodox actions to bring attention to the cause we are passionate about and are widely accepted in the community as the right thing to do;

2. at the same time, we need to ensure that whatever actions we are taking do not endanger the people who need to be aware of the fact that what they are doing is WRONG even though it is the exception than the rule that anyone follow traffic rules in China! i.e. making sure the bricks through do not caused the drivers to veer out of control and hurt themselves and the other road users!!;

3. when we do the right thing that the silent majority shared, we will get an outpouring of support when the minority did it! Suddenly you have a critical mass of people who will also join and spread the message that you had in mind. They would have felt that someone finally did it for them!!

May the action bring a higher sense of driving safety behaviors even if it is just for a small group of people, for the shortest period, in his neighbourhood.

Be bold and do the necessary if you feel strongly about righting a wrong in a peaceful and creative way!