As a truck driver named Tsai Ying-hao was driving down a provincial highway in Greater Kaohsiung carrying a truckload of screws early this month, screws fell onto the road for almost an entire kilometer. The tiny screws spread across the road, puncturing the tires of more than 200 vehicles, both cars and motorcycles. The long line of vehicles along the side of the road became quite a spectacle.
At around 7am tires began puncturing as vehicles passed by the Kaohsiung MRT’s Cingpu Station on the provincial highway. Some cars had all four tires poked with dozens of screws. Unable to move, the drivers were not sure what exactly they should do. A few scooter drivers fell and injured themselves from sliding across the pavement. Even the two police cars that rushed to the scene to help had their tires punctured.
The police said that Tsai left Gangshan District at around 6:30am carrying more than 50 barrels of screws to have them processed at a factory. At approximately 7am one of the barrels suddenly fell over as he was driving past Cingpu Station, causing the screws to fall out on to the road.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
照片:自由時報記者蘇福男
Commuters were unable to spot the tiny screws because they were the same color as the road. The road maintenance crew had filled three huge bags with the screws when they finished cleaning up the site.
The police called the number of a company printed on a label they found lying on the ground. After the company put them into contact with the driver, he suddenly vanished without a trace when it came time to actually write up the police report.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
貨車司機蔡英豪本月初滿載螺絲釘,行經高雄市省道,螺絲釘沿途掉落長達一公里,路面滿布小螺絲釘。緊跟在後多達二百多輛汽、機車紛紛爆胎,停靠路邊一字排開,場面十分壯觀。
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
照片:自由時報記者蘇福男
當天上午七點多,行經高雄捷運青埔站附近省道的車輛接連發生爆胎。有車主四個輪胎被刺了數十根密密麻麻的小螺絲釘,動彈不得,駕駛呆在現場不知所措。還有機車騎士因此摔車滑行受傷,就連趕往處理的兩部警車輪胎也被刺破。
警方指出,當天早上六點半,蔡姓司機從岡山區滿載五十多桶螺絲釘,準備運到工廠加工。七點左右,卡車行經捷運青埔站附近,一個裝滿螺絲釘的鐵桶突然傾倒,螺絲釘因此沿途掉落。
小螺絲釘顏色又和柏油路面差不多,駕駛人不察相繼遭殃。清潔隊在現場掃出三大袋螺絲釘。
警方在地面拾獲一張標籤,依上面公司電話輾轉聯絡到蔡姓貨車車主,但是要作筆錄時,發現人已不知去向。
(自由時報記者蘇福男、洪定宏)
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