Pedestrian Dies After Jaywalking in 8th Lane... Reason for Bus Driver's Acquittal

Pedestrian Hit While Driving at 50 km/h
Transport Corporation: "Collision Unavoidable Due to Short Distance"

A city bus driver who fatally struck a pedestrian jaywalking on an 8-lane road was acquitted.

On the 12th, Judge Kim Ji-young of the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 8 announced that she had acquitted bus driver A (70), who was charged with causing death by negligence under the Special Act on the Treatment of Traffic Accidents. A was tried for allegedly hitting and killing B (42) while driving a bus on a road in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, at around 10:35 p.m. on September 1, 2022.

At the time, A was driving the bus at a speed of 51?53 km/h on an 8-lane road when he struck B, who was jaywalking across a pedestrian crossing against a red light. B fell onto the road and was taken to the hospital for treatment but ultimately died from multiple traumatic injuries.

The appearance of a crosswalk. The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

The prosecution charged A with professional negligence, arguing that he violated his duty of care to properly observe the front left and right and to accurately operate the steering and braking devices to prevent the accident. The Korea Road Traffic Authority analyzed the accident situation at the court’s request. The Authority determined that at the driving speed at the time, the distance required to stop immediately after spotting a pedestrian was 33.3 meters. However, the distance from the vehicle’s position when A spotted B to the collision point was only 22.9 meters, more than 10 meters shorter.

Court: "Difficult to foresee... Not professional negligence"

Based on this, the Korea Road Traffic Authority presented the opinion to the court that even if A had braked suddenly upon recognizing B, the collision could not have been avoided, and that A could not have turned the steering wheel due to other vehicles on both sides of the driving direction.

The court judged that A was not guilty, citing that A was driving at 51?53 km/h on a 50 km/h road while watching ahead, and that the point where A spotted B was within the bus’s braking distance.

The court explained, "The black box footage shows that A was continuously watching ahead while driving," and "Considering the stopping distance of 33.3 meters at the driving speed at the time, even if the victim was recognized at that point, the possibility of avoiding the accident by braking is low." It added, "It would have been difficult for A to foresee that someone would jaywalk," and concluded, "It is hard to recognize that he caused the accident through professional negligence," thus acquitting him.

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