TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Video surfaced on Wednesday (Sept. 1) showing an elderly woman hopping back on her scooter moments after being involved in a dramatic traffic accident in western Taiwan.
At 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning (Sept. 1), a 69-year-old farm worker surnamed Li (李) prepared to make a left turn in the middle of a road in Yunlin County's Huwei Township, reported SET News. Li waited for one scooter to pass and then decided to move forward without checking for oncoming traffic to her right.
Lin's scooter collides with Li's scooter. (YouTube, 啃草的獅子 screenshot)
Almost instantly, a 19-year-old woman surnamed Lin (林) hit the front wheel of Li's scooter. Li was sent spinning in the air before landing on her back.
Lin's scooter continued to hurtle forward before she fell onto the pavement. Li lay on her back with her arms outstretched as if she was still riding her scooter for a few seconds before slowly standing up.
Li falls to ground after impact, Lin falls forward. (YouTube, 啃草的獅子 screenshot)
Lin rushed to check on Li and asked if she had suffered any injuries, but the elderly woman said she was OK.
With a noticeable limp, Li started to lift up her scooter, and Lin offered to help, but Li finished the task on her own. A bystander who witnessed the accident called on the women to stay put as he called the police.
Li gathers scattered items while disregarding traffic. (YouTube, 啃草的獅子 screenshot)
Lin advised Li to wait where she was. A man filming the incident also exhorted the women to wait for the police to arrive, but Li picked up her hat and all the items that had flown from her scooter, completely ignoring traffic.
Glancing briefly at oncoming vehicles for the first time, Li waited for a truck to roar by before starting to move off. Two men at the scene ran forward and shouted at Li to wait for the police to arrive, but she ignored them as she sped down the middle of two opposing lanes of traffic.
Li leaves scene of accident. (YouTube, 啃草的獅子 screenshot)
Huang Chun-jung (黃春榮), captain of the Huwei Police Station, told the news site that Lin had multiple abrasions on her legs. After the accident, officers were able to track down Li, who reported that her thigh was in pain and that her head was swollen in one place.
Li claimed that she had left in a hurry because she had left an irrigation canal sluice open and worried that if she did not close it, the field would become flooded and damage the crops. In addition, she claimed that she was unfamiliar with the regulation that says motorists must not leave the scene of an accident before the police arrive.
