New Energy Vehicle Runs Out of Power on Expressway, Driver Attempts to Charge from Roadside Surveillance Camera Power Supply
Sometimes a "bright idea" not only fails to solve the problem but also brings greater trouble. According to a notification from "Hunan Highway Traffic Police," at around 10:00 am on April 17th, a driver named Zou ran out of power on the Xuguang Expressway (northbound) at the 815km mark.
He directly parked the car on the emergency lane without taking any safety precautions and attempted to pry open the roadside surveillance equipment box to charge the vehicle using the power supply inside.
Police from the Third Detachment of the Traffic Management Bureau of Hunan Provincial Public Security Department (Hengyang Area) Steam Xiang Brigade discovered the situation during video patrol and immediately rushed to the scene to stop him.
During questioning, Zou stated that he was driving from Changsha to Hengyang that day and forgot to charge the vehicle during a rest stop. When he reached this location, the vehicle ran out of power. Seeing a distribution box by the road, he tried to find a solution, only to discover that the distribution box could not be connected to.
It is reported that the power supply for the surveillance equipment is a low-voltage dedicated line with insufficient power and no charging protection mechanism. Forcibly connecting to it can easily cause line overload, short circuits, and fires. Especially on rainy days, it is extremely prone to leakage and electric shock accidents. New energy vehicle charging requires dedicated equipment and a stable power supply. Illegally connecting to public facilities poses a significant safety hazard.
In addition, parking on the emergency lane without setting up warning signs as required, and personnel operating within the lane, are extremely likely to cause rear-end collisions. There have been tragic cases of people being hit and killed while pushing stalled new energy vehicles off the road.
Unauthorized access to public power facilities is illegal and also violates the provisions of the "Road Traffic Safety Law" regarding the use of emergency lanes and fault warnings. The man was ultimately punished by the police according to law.