The force of the impact knocked the victim across Queen’s Road East

Police arrested a man this morning after he ran down a pedestrian in the morning Wan Chai rush hour, reportedly while making an illegal right turn.

According to reports, the driver was making an illegal right turn when he struck the victim

Mr Ducusin, 39, was driving a black Alphard 7-seater along Amoy Street at 8:11am and struck Mr Lee, 69, as the car turned right onto Queen’s Road East. Cars are not allowed to turn right from Amoy Street, police say.

Lee had been crossing the road when he was struck. Emergency crews rushed the man to Ruttonjee hospital where he died at 9:47am.

Ducusin was arrested for dangerous driving causing death and is being detained for further enquiries.

Large Alphards and other seven-seater vans now make up almost 40% of all private cars in Hong Kong, according to Transport Department figures.

Research released this week estimates that the increasing size of cars – and the popularity of larger vehicles such as minivans and SUVs – was responsible for an additional 8,131 pedestrian deaths in the US from 2000 to 2019.

The University of Hawaii’s Professor Justin Tyndall says the larger cars are heavier with longer stopping distances, which means they strike with more force. They also have higher front ends which makes them more deadly.

“A vehicle with a higher front end is likely to make first contact with the pedestrian’s torso or head, harming vital organs and deflecting their body under the vehicle,” Tyndall writes in Economics of Transportation, pointing out that while deaths of motorists have declined over the last 20 years, deaths of pedestrians have risen 30%.