Police, Fire, and Ambulance Vehicle Drivers' Immunity Under the 'Min-sik Law' Proposed

Discussion on Improvement Measures for Emergency Vehicle Operation Support System

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Legislation is being proposed to reduce penalties for drivers of police, fire, ambulance, and blood supply vehicles who cause traffic accidents while driving in child protection zones.

On the 27th, the Ministry of Education announced that it held the 13th Social Relations Ministers' Meeting at the Government Seoul Office, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye, together with related ministries to discuss "Improvement Measures for Emergency Vehicle Activity Support System."

First, the plan is to expand the scope of exemption so that drivers are generally granted reduced penalties even if a traffic accident occurs while operating an emergency vehicle. The Ministry of Education explained that this reflects field appeals that emergency vehicle drivers may be placed in anxious situations until court rulings, even in minor accidents. To this end, Article 158-2 of the Road Traffic Act will be amended. Emergency vehicles are cars used urgently to protect the lives and property of the public, including police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, blood supply vehicles, investigation agency vehicles, escort vehicles, and security vehicles, but this law will be limited to police, fire, ambulance, and blood supply vehicles only.

Additionally, the plan includes extending the scope of penalty reduction to cases where an emergency vehicle causes a traffic accident while driving in a child protection zone. This means that emergency vehicle drivers will not be included under the strengthened penalty standards according to the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. The government plans to review specific improvement measures through consultations with related ministries and public opinion.

At the meeting, the "Direction for Social Service Innovation According to the Life Cycle" was also discussed. In response to the COVID-19 situation, the government plans to expand the public role as a provider of social services, which have become an important pillar of the social safety net, and establish a community-centered emergency care system.

Furthermore, the government discussed the "Comprehensive Plan to Strengthen Digital Media Communication Competency" to prevent side effects such as fake news and hate speech arising from increased digital media use after COVID-19. The government plans to provide advanced training to cultivate experts in media, society, and economy as "professional fact-checkers" and strengthen information ethics education for the general public on copyright, personal information protection, and more.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.