Driver Found Not Guilty for Fatal Collision with Wrong-Way Bicycle Rider at Dawn

Cars Driving Normally, Bicycles Speeding
Court: "Difficult to Prove Breach of Duty of Care at Work"

A taxi driver who fatally struck a man in his 70s riding an electric bicycle across the center line in the early morning was acquitted.

On the 27th, Judge Oh Heung-rok of the Criminal Division 4, Seobu Branch of Busan District Court, acquitted A, a taxi driver in his 70s, who was charged with violating the Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling (causing death).

A was prosecuted for hitting and killing B, a man in his 70s who was riding a black electric bicycle against traffic on a road in Saha-gu, Busan, at around 5:40 a.m. on October 17 last year, while driving a passenger car.

The bicycle rider B died five months after the accident due to spinal injury caused by a fractured cervical vertebra.

The prosecution held that A, the taxi driver, was responsible for B's death because he failed to watch the road ahead and turned right without noticing the bicycle riding against traffic from the opposite direction in the dark before sunrise.

[Image source=Pixabay]

The court found it difficult to prove that A violated his duty of care in the course of work and ruled that he was not responsible for the accident.

The National Forensic Service concluded that it could not be determined whether the vehicle driver could have avoided the bicycle, and at the time of the accident, the car driven by A was traveling at a normal speed of 40.4 km/h, while the electric bicycle ridden by B was moving at 24.1 km/h, which is considerably faster than the usual bicycle speed.

The court explained the reason for the acquittal, stating, "There is no evidence that the defendant violated traffic laws such as speeding or breached his duty of care in the course of work," and "It is practically difficult for a vehicle driver to anticipate that an electric bicycle would cross the center line and come in front of his vehicle while riding against traffic."

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