A large road sign toppled onto a roadside bench in Chaozhou, in China's Guangdong province, but the man sleeping on the bench escaped unharmed.
Citing reports from the New York Post and other foreign media on the 27th, the incident occurred on the 7th, when a man had taken off his shoes and fallen asleep on a bench beside a road in Chaozhou. A truck backing up nearby struck a large road sign, knocking it over toward the bench. The sign landed just beside the man's head, and he woke up startled by the impact.
The corner of the sign hit a cigarette pack lying next to him, sending it flying off the bench. The man walked away without any injuries. Video of the incident began spreading on social media on the 11th, and the official account of U.S. broadcaster Fox News shared it on the 16th.
Other falling-sign incidents have ended differently. At a crosswalk in China, a man waiting for the light was knocked unconscious when a traffic sign standing beside him slowly tipped over and struck his head, in footage captured by a security camera that later circulated widely. That incident took place in 2017, and poor maintenance of roadside structures has been cited as a factor behind both cases.
Online users who saw the video expressed astonishment that the man had survived the close call. Some said he should take it as a sign to quit smoking.
