Driver who changed 3 lanes at once, causing crash, gets jail term
A suspended prison term for the 72-year-old driver, accused of hit-and-run and fleeing the scene of an accident, has been upheld by the appellate division of the Chuncheon District Court.
The court said Sunday it ruled against the defendant's appeal and retained the initial sentence of 18 months in prison, suspended for three years. The defendant was found guilty of aggravated hit-and-run, stipulated in Article 5-3 of the Act on Aggravated Punishment for Specific Crimes, and failing to take appropriate measures after causing an accident as defined by the Road Traffic Act.
The defendant was driving a compact vehicle on the freeway in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, on Feb. 18, when he moved from lane 5 to lane 2 at once. The abrupt maneuver caused a sedan in lane 2 to collide with a van in lane 1, in an attempt to evade collision with the defendant's car.
The driver of the sedan and a 2-year-old child inside the car were hurt, and the car was totaled. The driver and passengers inside the van were also injured.
The defendant claimed not to be at fault, as he had signaled the lane change; the court said that simply turning on the signal light did not justify his reckless driving.
"Changing lanes without sufficiently considering the road situation violates the obligation (of a driver), which states that one should not change lanes if it interferes with the normal operation of other cars," the court said in its ruling.
On the defendant's claim of not being aware of the crash, the court pointed out that the black box footage on the car clearly picked up the noise from the crash, which would have been enough to alert the defendant.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
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