Chinese pop singer faces jail over drunk driving

Xinhua, May 11, 2011

A Chinese pop singer who is best known for his campus ballads was caught drunk driving Monday night in Beijing, police said Tuesday.

Gao Xiaosong, famous for his campus ballad "My Deskmate" in the 1990s, was driving from a late-night feast at a downtown Beijing hotel when his white Infiniti SUV crashed into a car stopped at a red light at an intersection near the diplomatic area of Dongzhimen Street.

The collision caused a pile-up that involved two other cars but no injuries were reported, according to police who were on scene at 10:32 p.m.

A subsequent blood test showed Gao had 243 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood. Legally, drivers who have more than 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood in their body are considered drunk.

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

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

Gao may face detention from one to six months under China's newly-amended Road Traffic Safety Law that took effect May 1.

The amended law states that those caught driving drunk will have their driver's licenses revoked. Drunk drivers will also need to wait five years to apply for a new license.

The earlier version of the law imposed a license suspension of three to six months.

Courts across China on Monday sentenced to jail at least nine drivers who were among the first to be caught after the newly-amended law took effect.

In recent years, fatal car accidents in cities such as Chengdu, Nanjing and Hangzhou have triggered a public outcry for stricter drunk driving penalties.