Society

TV star caught drunken driving

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-11 07:53

BEIJING - A Chinese pop singer, best known for his campus ballads, faces prison after he was caught drunken driving on Monday night in Beijing, police said on Tuesday.

The 42-year-old singer, music producer and director, Gao Xiaosong, was driving his white Infiniti SUV after a late-night meal at a downtown Beijing hotel when he crashed into a car stopped at a red light at an intersection near the diplomatic area on Dongzhimen Street.

The collision caused a pile-up involving two other cars, but police, who were on scene at 10:32 pm, said no injuries were reported.

A subsequent blood test showed Gao had 243 milligrams of alcohol for 100 milliliters of blood, well over the legal limit of 80 milligrams of alcohol for 100 milliliters of blood.

Gao told police he had drunk a bottle of white wine and a bottle of liquor before taking the wheel.

He turned down requests for an interview at Beijing's traffic police headquarters on Tuesday, but wrote on a slip of paper: "Sorry, never drive when drunk."

Under China's newly amended Road Traffic Safety Law that took effect on May 1, Gao faces a possible jail term of one to six months.

The amended law also states that those caught drunken driving will have their licenses revoked and will need to wait five years before applying for a new one.

Gao is the first celebrity to be caught drunken driving since the law was amended. Courts across China on Monday sentenced to jail at least nine drivers who were among the first to be caught under the newly revised law.

In recent years, fatal car accidents across China have triggered a public outcry for stricter penalties for drunken driving. And fatal car accidents are on the rise. More than 65,000 people were killed in traffic accidents last year. Car accidents have become a major cause of death for Chinese people under 45.

Gao is famous for his 1990s' ballad My Deskmate and for his appearances as a judge on the television show, China's Got Talent.

China Daily - Xinhua