Woman fined for freeway 'funeral ritual' coin toss
Some of the coins the woman threw out of a bus window
A woman was fined 50 yuan (US$7.70) for throwing coins on a Shanghai expressway from a bus, police said today.
The 70-year-old woman, who attended a funeral that day, claimed the coin toss is a funeral ritual in her village.
Police in the Pudong New Area received a report from a man surnamed Zhang on March 3 on the incident. Zhang said he was driving on the Outer Ring Road toward Longdong Elevated Road that afternoon when his car was hit by metal objects, which turned out to be coins thrown out of the window of a bus ahead of his car.
Zhang's car was not damaged, but police soon identified the bus and found the woman who threw the coins.
The bus was transporting a group of people from a village in Huamu Town back from a funeral.
It is a violation of Chinese traffic laws to throw objects on a street or highway when operating or riding in a motor vehicle.
Research indicates an apple thrown out of a car moving at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour can break the windshield of a car behind it.
