A city bus driver who caused a 10-car collision in downtown Seoul was acquitted in the first trial. The court judged that the cause of the accident may be “a sudden start of the vehicle” rather than negligence of the duty to keep an eye on the front or inexperience in operating the braking system.
According to the legal community on the 27th, Judge Moon Kyung-hoon of the Seoul Northern District Court acquitted A (60), who was accused of violating the Road Traffic Act.
Mr. A was driving a city bus on the three-lane road in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, at around 6 p.m. on March 26, 2020. While driving at about 40km per hour, A hit a car and rushed over the center line to the sidewalk. Mr. A’s bus crashed into a car and caused a series of collision traffic accidents for about 200 meters before hitting a wall of a nearby university opposite the road and stopping.
Mr. A’s rear-end collision resulted in more than 10 vehicles, including taxis, trucks, cars, and motorized bicycles, causing property damage of KRW 158.46 million.
In the first police investigation, A stated that he caused a collision accident by drowsy driving. However, the next day, A went to work and said, “I didn’t listen even if I applied the brake as the RPM (engine speed) went up,” adding, “I submitted an accident report to the police station that I drove drowsy for the sake of thinking about the company.”
A also reversed his statement during the police investigation. A stated the details of the incident again, saying, “If I get fired from the company due to drowsy driving and my driver’s license is revoked, it is difficult to feed my wife and children.”
During the trial, A and his lawyer claimed, “There is no fault that he neglected to look ahead while driving the bus and did not operate the braking system properly,” adding, “I tried to operate the braking system, but the accident occurred because the device did not work properly.”
“I suspect that the traffic accident occurred in violation of my duty of care,” the court said. “I wonder if the traffic accident occurred because the braking system did not work properly and the vehicle accelerated (so-called sudden launch).”
The court cited the fact that △ A bowed his head just before the accident to check the operation of the brake system △ It is difficult to rule out the possibility of temporary system failure even if the brake system operates without operating the brake system.
In addition, △ A has never received administrative measures related to driver’s licenses in the past, △ received normal findings from cognitive function tests conducted at hospitals after the accident, △ He has worked as a bus driver for about 7 years, which is convincing.
The court said, “It was confirmed by phone records that the defendant was talking to his spouse during the traffic accident in this case,” adding, “It is also possible to understand how A stated that he had ‘sleepy driving’ and then reversed it to some extent.”