Responsible auto use doesn’t just apply when you’re driving, as one man learned when punished for the death of a woman who bumped into his parked car.

Li, from Yuhuan County in Zhejiang Province, parked his car randomly on a slope and left on July 24. When he returned, minutes later, he was shocked to find an elderly woman lying beside it with a serious head injury. She died in hospital some days later.

A court investigation determined that the woman, surnamed Weng, had been walking down the slope at a high speed and bumped into the car, losing her balance and striking her head on the ground.

As Li’s car had been parked illegally, the court held him partially responsible for Weng’s death and demanded he pay about 200,000 yuan (US$25,296) to her family.

By Sun Tzu on 21-10-2006