Strengthened Crackdown on Cargo Truck 'Panspring' - the "Landmines on the Road"… Up to 1 Year Imprisonment

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The government is strengthening crackdowns to eradicate the installation of illegal devices such as 'panspring' on cargo truck beds.

On the 5th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it has requested the police and local governments to intensify crackdowns to eliminate illegal tuning on cargo truck beds, and has taken measures to support enforcement by utilizing the 'Vehicle Safety Inspectors' operated by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority.

A panspring is a spring made by stacking several steel plates of different lengths. It is a suspension device designed to absorb road shocks during vehicle operation, but this shock absorption function is being repurposed to prevent the cargo bed from spreading sideways when loading cargo on large trucks.

However, these pansprings are often not properly secured, causing them to bounce off and fall onto the road during vehicle operation. As a result, vehicles passing over the fallen pansprings can shoot them like missiles into following vehicles or collide with them upon falling, leading to frequent accidents. In January 2018, a passenger car driver traveling on the highway died after being hit by a panspring kicked up by the vehicle ahead, and two passengers were seriously injured.

The problem is that in many cases, it is difficult to identify which cargo truck the fallen panspring came from in accidents where the panspring is kicked and hits a following vehicle. In such cases, it is hard to receive compensation, leaving the drivers and passengers of the damaged vehicles to bear all the losses.

Last month, a petition titled "We can no longer ignore fatal accidents caused by illegally modified (panspring) cargo trucks and overloaded cargo trucks" was posted on the Blue House National Petition Board. The author demanded, "Please punish unscrupulous people who threaten others' lives with illegal tuning pansprings and repeatedly overload their trucks," and raised their voice saying, "There are too many drivers who shamelessly think it is acceptable to threaten precious lives for their own financial gain."

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained that installing such pansprings constitutes tuning under the current 'Automobile Management Act,' involving modifications to the vehicle's 'body' or 'cargo loading device,' and therefore must undergo approval and inspection procedures to verify safety. Illegal tuning that ignores these procedures can result in imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million KRW, and local government heads may order restoration to the original state.

The Ministry plans to strengthen crackdowns on illegal tuning while requesting cooperation from vehicle inspection centers to eradicate illegal activities through vehicle inspections, and will also disseminate cases to related cargo truck organizations to encourage industry self-regulation efforts.

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