An umbrella was held over an elderly man who fell off his bike and lay on a snow-covered road. Photograph by Mei Jianming.
At around 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon, on Wangfu Street in Nanjing, an elderly man riding a bicycle was preparing to turn the corner when suddenly a small car drove towards him. The man fell off his bike onto the road. As the snow continued to fall, he quickly became wet. A passerby holding an umbrella immediately went forward to shelter him from the snow. Someone else found a floral-patterned umbrella, which they opened and placed over the man to protect him from the wind and snow.
The reporter at the scene saw that a grey-haired man was lying on his back on the road with a bicycle beside him. His foot was still trapped beneath the bike. The man said that as he turned the corner on his bike, it collided with the small car. Both he and his bike fell to the ground and he could not move. He felt numbness in his waist and believed that he may have been injured when the bike fell.
The driver of the small car was a young woman who claimed that her car had been driving normally and had not touched the bicycle. She had already stopped and that the bicycle had fallen over next to her car. "I really didn't hit him, he just fell over," the woman defended herself, crying. She then took out her mobile phone and called the police. At this time, a young man who was driving behind the woman said that he had seen what happened and that the car in front seemed not to have touched the bicycle, although it was unclear exactly how the bicycle had fallen.
A cleaner nearby said that the old man had been riding his bicycle around the corner when the girl's small car came out of the alley and onto Wangfu Street. Therefore, both were driving slowly. It was unclear why the old man had fallen. However, the reporter observed that there were some slight scratches under the front door of the small car. It was unknown whether these had been caused by colliding with the bicycle or if the bicycle had fallen and hit the car. Fortunately, at this crossroads, there was a large surveillance camera. Everyone said that this camera would be able to reveal the truth.
As the snow continued to fall, the old man lying on the ground waited for the ambulance to arrive. His clothes soon became soaked with melting snow water. What was touching was that a passerby seeing this immediately used their own umbrella to shelter him from the snow. Subsequently, someone found a floral-patterned umbrella, which they opened and placed over the top half of the old man's body to protect him from the falling snow and cold wind. When the police and emergency medical staff arrived at the scene, they sent the old man to the hospital for diagnosis. Currently, the cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Expectations for more citizens to offer help rather than add to the congestion
Yesterday, it snowed almost all day in Nanjing. Tonight, snowy weather will return.
This snowfall was anticipated and many government departments quickly put emergency plans into place. The impact of the snow on the people was not particularly severe. However, unexpected situations continued to arise. There were accidents on the roads and the hospitals were full of injured people. For those involved, such as the old man who fell on Wangfu Street, this snowfall must have felt exceptionally cold. Fortunately, we saw several umbrellas being used to shelter people from the snow, which warmed our hearts.
Rainy and snowy weather tests the response capabilities of government departments, but also the sense of responsibility of the citizens. Specifically, one should neither add to the congestion nor fail to help others.
As a socially responsible driver, during rainy and snowy weather one should drive civilly and not change lanes arbitrarily, cut in line, or speed, thus adding to the congestion on busy roads; one should also take care not to park on either side of the main roads, creating obstacles for snow removal.
As an ordinary citizen, when someone falls down, one should lend a helping hand; when a vehicle breaks down, one should push it out of the way.
In fact, everyone has an umbrella in their heart to shelter others from the snow. As long as everyone is willing to open it at critical moments, the warmth generated by everyone coming together will certainly melt the ice and snow.