Ferrari drivers survive high-speed crash

Medical workers try to save the driver of a Ferrari after an expressway accident in Shaanxi province on Monday. Mu Shan / for China Daily

An accident involving two Ferraris has once again drawn attention to racing luxury cars.

The two Ferraris crashed against guardrails of the Baotou-Maoming Expressway's Yulin city section in Shaanxi province on Monday.

Pictures show the chassis and wheels of one of the red Ferraris separated from the body after the collision, leaving the car's shape unrecognizable.

However, the drivers survived the incident with minor injuries.

A police officer surnamed Lei with the city's traffic police told China Daily on Tuesday that the cars, which had temporary license plates, entered the mainland from Hong Kong en route to Ordos, a city in Inner Mongolia.

Local newspaper Huashang Daily reported the cars were going to a car show.

Lei did not confirm this and did not reveal the identity of the cars' owners.

"There was a report saying that one car crashed into the rear end of the other, but we found that the two cars both crashed into the guardrails," the police officer told China Daily.

One car crashed into the right guardrail of the expressway and the other into the left, Lei said.

A staff member with Ferrari SpA's China branch told China Daily on Tuesday that the company is aware of the incident, which has been blamed on the drivers.

Liu Shaobo, another police officer who checked the site, said the road was somewhat slippery as there was drizzling rain and it is believed that the cars were speeding.

The cars had commercial vehicle insurance and the drivers were released after paying compensation, Liu said.

Traffic police estimated that losses from the accident would be in the millions of yuan as the retail price of the cheapest Ferrari was some 3.5 million yuan ($560,000).

"I saw a dozen racing cars driving so fast to overtake my car and I couldn't even see their trademarks clearly. I think their speed must have been more than 160 km/h," an eyewitness surnamed Zhang was quoted saying by Huashang Daily.

Micro-blogger Mowen0715 posted on Sina Weibo that she saw some 10 Ferraris driving at a very high speed on the Xi'an-Hanzhong Expressway in southern Shaanxi on Sunday.

Stories about rich people speeding in expensive cars and getting involved in traffic accidents have attracted much public attention.

On May 12, Ma Chi, a 31-year-old businessman from Sichuan province, sped through a red light in a Ferrari in Singapore, killing himself and other two people.

On May 7, 2009, a 25-year-old resident in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, was killed at a downtown pedestrian crossing by a 20-year-old man from a rich family who was speeding in an expensive racing car.

Li Zhou, a resident in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, said some young people from rich families like to show off their expensive cars by speeding, even on downtown streets, because they have money to pay compensation if they cause a traffic accident.

"I think people who drive over the speed limit should be punished more severely," Li said.

Police officer Lei said that the speed limit was set for safety reasons and most accidents were caused by speeding.

Li Fangfang and Wang Huazhong in Beijing contributed to this story

Contact the writer at malie@chinadaily.com.cn.