Video footage showing the aftermath of a collision between an infant’s electric ride-on toy car and an upper-middle-aged woman has split public opinion between both sides.

The following brief video went viral over Chinese social media and appears to show a woman, described by media as in her 50s, sitting on the ground in front of a parked car and its two-or-three-year-old driver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf6Dq3bZgzU

Even without knowing the language, it’s clear that the woman is upset about being hit by the motorized single-passenger toy car. However, from what is shown on video, she doesn’t really appear to be favoring any body part as one might when in pain. This led many in China to suspect the incident to be fraud on the woman’s part.

“She has no concept of shame.”
“Throwing yourself in front of a car like that really minimizes the risk.”
“Anyone caught doing this kind of scam should be banned from public places.”

Such acts of fraud involving actual vehicles are a problem in China where laws are said to often result in victims of car accidents getting financial compensation for a lifetime. However, thanks to dashboard cameras, such scams are getting harder and harder to pull off…and are providing more and more entertainment for YouTube audiences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh3f8GFPfIk

Of course, people who intentionally get themselves hit by cars also run a reasonable risk of being killed, so it’s easy to assume this woman saw what appears to be a little Mercedes-Benz SLK and thought: “Minor injury + deep pockets = ka-ching!”

But did she? An equal number of Chinese netizens came out in support of the woman in the video.

“I think people are jumping to the conclusion that this is a fraud.”
“I know a guy who got hit by one of those cars and it left a huge bruise. Don’t take them lightly just because they’re toys.”
“If I was hit by someone’s kid driving wild in the street, I think I would appreciate at least the cost to get a medical check.”

These people have a point, perhaps some are being to hasty in condemning the woman.

Here we have an unlicensed, underage driver, who does appear to come from a privileged family. Moreover, in the video the toddler’s apparent ambivalence to the legal ramifications of what she had done certainly suggests we may have an outbreak of affluenza in China.

▼ For much of the video the driver looks around with disinterest, and then, in an act of utter contempt, appears to begin picking her nose in front of the victim.

In the end, without seeing the accident as it happened, and without knowing what a subsequent medical examination may have revealed, we’ll never really know who is at fault. Perhaps they’re both to blame in which case the little girl should be fined US$1,000 and have her vehicle impounded while the woman should have to go one month without pudding.

Source: Record China (Japanese), YouTube/Weibo Official Channel (Chinese) via ToyChan (Japanese)
Videos & Images: YouTube/Weibo Official Channel, YouTube/Felix Bonet