📝 Summary

A city bus driver who struck and killed a 65-year-old jaywalking pedestrian has been found not guilty, with the court ruling that the accident was effectively unavoidable.

According to the Daejeon District Court, the driver had been charged with fatal negligence under Korea’s Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling after the April 24 accident on a four-lane road in Jung-gu, Daejeon.

Why the Court Ruled Not Guilty

The court determined:

The pedestrian suddenly entered the bus’s path at very close range, making immediate detection nearly impossible.

From the moment the driver visually recognized the pedestrian to the moment of impact, the time interval was 0.87 seconds — shorter than the typical human reaction time of about 1 second.

The bus was traveling at 21 km/h, well below the 50 km/h limit, and no traffic violations were found.

Given these circumstances, the court held that the driver could not reasonably have foreseen or prevented the collision, and thus did not violate his duty of care.


Related Case

The article notes a similar ruling earlier in the year in Gwangju, where another bus driver was also acquitted after hitting an 80-year-old pedestrian while making a right turn at night. The court found that the pedestrian could not have been detected in advance.

Overall Significance

The rulings reaffirm that drivers—even professional bus operators—are not criminally liable when:

A pedestrian suddenly enters their path,

Reaction time makes avoidance impossible,

And there is no speeding or traffic violation.

Article: https://m.segye.com/view/20251130504470?OutUrl=naver