The door on the driver's side is left open at the scene of the accident. The photo was shared tens of thousands of times on Chinese microblogs on Thursday. Photo: Screenshot via Sina Weibo

Woman crushes husband and kills herself in freak parking accident in Zhejiang

Published: 10:17am, 20 Jun 2013

A couple died in an underground garage in China’s eastern Zhejiang province on Tuesday after the driver attempted to back the vehicle into a parking space and accidentally crushed her husband outside.

The driver, who had received her driver's licence only five weeks earlier, hit her husband as he stood next to the car giving directions. He was crushed to death against the wall in the parking garage in Fenghua, an hour's drive south of Ningbo.

The woman, who had opened her door and was leaning out of the driver's seat, smashed her head against a wall during the manuevre. She also died at the scene, the Ningbo Evening News reported.

The couple is survived by two daughters, the paper said.

“[The woman] must have mistaken the accelerator peddle for the brake,” one person commented online on the Ningbo report, which has gone viral.

“We shouldn’t keep making it easier to get a driver's licence. No matter how rich you are, you shouldn’t be able to buy one,” said another, referring to widespread reports on lenient driving schools in the country.

China is one of the most dangerous countries for drivers, according to a global survey released by the World Health Organisation this year. Yet road safety has been improving dramatically over the last decade, the report said.

Road mortality has almost halved to five deaths per 100,000 in 2010, from nine deaths a decade earlier, according to the latest available figures. It peaked in 2001. Most of those who died are either motorbike drivers or pedestrians, according to the Minsitry of Public Security. There are no figures on parking deaths.

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