Luo Songsong

    songsongluo@126.com

    THIRTEEN Hong Kong men who were caught red-handed illegally racing cars on a Shenzhen expressway last year have been sentenced to terms ranging from one to five months in jail with a six-month reprieve for reckless driving, Shenzhen police said Thursday.

    This is the first case of group street racing to have ever been investigated in China. The crime carries a penalty of one to six months in jail.

    According to a verdict by the Bao’an District People’s Court, the drivers were also fined between 20,000 (US$3,200) and 50,000 yuan, and banned from driving on the mainland for two years. They will remain eligible to drive in Hong Kong, where a separate legal system is used.

    On Nov. 6, six HK-registered cars modified for street racing entered the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Riverside Expressway from Qianhai Tollgate at noon and raced up to three times the speed limit on the expressway.

    Surveillance footage showed that the drivers were moving at roughly 200 kilometers per hour on average during rush hour.

    “The street racing posed a great danger to road safety and some frightened drivers reported to police,” said Xie Xingming, deputy chief of the traffic police bureau’s investigative department.

    On Nov. 7, police found that seven more cars had been involved in illegal street racing. The seven drivers formed a group to drive from Hong Kong to Zhuhai and communicated by walkie-talkie on the way. The cars were worth millions of yuan and included brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi, Mclaren and GTR.

    “The drivers raced on rainy days, posing a great threat to road safety. Some of them drove at about 270 kilometers per hour,” said Xie.

    Later, the cars were impounded at the city’s checkpoints, the 13 drivers were detained and then were bailed out.

    “It was a harsh punishment for me. I didn’t mean to violate the law here, but tried to have some fun by driving a little faster. I will come back to Shenzhen, but will not race my car anymore,” said one of the middle-aged drivers surnamed Chan, who denied that the drivers had organized a race.

    Chan said that he could still freely commute between Shenzhen and Hong Kong during the reprieve period.