Driver killed elderly cyclist after looking down at phone 39 times in 7 minutes

On October 24, a bus driver took passengers from Changzhou Bus Station to Nanjing Lishui Bus Station. After dropping off the passengers, he drove to Nanjing Jiangning Bus Station. Because he checked his phone 39 times in 7 minutes on the road, he was unable to avoid an elderly cyclist and knocked him down, killing him on the spot.

At around 8:20 a.m., Gao was driving along the Ningli Line from south to north at a speed of about 70 kilometers per hour. When he reached a crossroads in Guozhuang Town, Jurong, he collided with Yang, who was riding a bicycle. Yang later died after failed rescue efforts at the hospital. The police investigation determined that Gao was primarily responsible.

Sha Guoqing, a traffic policeman in charge of handling this matter at the Jurong Traffic Police Brigade, told reporters that after the traffic police retrieved the driving recorder, they saw that Gao had lowered his head to look at his mobile phone many times before the incident. On several occasions, he held the phone sideways with both hands and operated the screen with his fingers.

The reporter found that from 8:14 to 8:21 recorded by the dashcam, in less than 7 minutes, Gao took out his mobile phone 4 times and looked down at it 39 times in total. During this time, he almost always looked down at the phone and then at the road conditions ahead, and sometimes he looked down for nearly 2 seconds at a time.

If calculated based on a car speed of 70 kilometers per hour, Gao takes one second to look at his phone, which means that every time he lowers his head, the car moves nearly 20 meters.

After checking his phone for the last time, Gao leaned on the steering wheel with his left hand holding the phone. Just a few seconds later, the tragedy happened. When questioned by the traffic police, Gao described the moment of the incident as follows: he saw the old man when he was more than 10 meters away from the intersection.

According to Gao's confession, the last time he checked his phone before the incident, he saw a missed call. Just as he put down the phone, he saw the old man appear at the intersection on a bicycle.

The reporter learned that Gao worked for a transportation group in Changzhou. After the traffic police department determined that Gao was primarily responsible for the accident, not only will his motor vehicle driver's license be revoked, and he will only be able to apply for a motor vehicle driver's license after two years, he will also be held criminally liable.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.