image text translation
(1)Social SocialGeneral
(2)If you don’t stop at the yellow light at the intersection with the Supreme Court.
(3)Signal Violation”…Exonerated
(4)1-2 trial acquittal overturned… Yellow light proceeding traffic accident “should have stopped even if entering intersection after braking sharply”
(5)Jieun Kim, journalist
(6)Seosu-dong, Seoul, Korea. Kim Jung-hyo hyopd hani.co.kr
(7)A yellow light turns on just before entering an intersection. Even if you slam on the brakes, your car will cross the stop line and stop in the middle of the intersection. Should you continue through the intersection or stop? The Supreme Court ruled that if you don’t stop, you violate the traffic signal.
(8)The Supreme Court’s 3rd Division (Chief Justice Oh Seok-jun) overturned the trial court’s acquittal of Mr. G., who was accused of violating the Traffic Accident Handling Special Act, and sent the case back to the Incheon District Court. The court’s reasoning was that the trial court erred in not considering Mr. G’s act of entering the intersection after the yellow light turned on as a traffic violation.
(9)On July 25, 2021, Mr. G. was driving a passenger car in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, when he entered an intersection without stopping when the yellow light turned on and turned left. In the process, he hit a motorcycle traveling from left to right, causing injuries.
(10)In both the first and second trial, Mr. G was acquitted. The first court held that even if Mr. G braked his car sharply, it could not be considered a traffic violation because it was likely that he stopped beyond the intersection stop line. The Court of Second Instance said, “The distance between the defendant’s vehicle and the stop line at the time of the yellow light was about 8.3 meters. Even if the accused vehicle immediately braked in compliance with the speed limit (40 km/h), the stopping distance would be about 15.71 to 19.04 meters, which means that it would stop 7.41 to 10.74 meters past the stop line.” The second trial court concluded that “the accused vehicle would stop at the position where it entered the intersection, and would have no choice but to continue to proceed outside the intersection.” The Enforcement Rules of the Road Traffic Law stipulate that if you have already entered the intersection when the yellow light is illuminated, you must “proceed promptly outside the intersection”. “If a driver is required to brake immediately when the light turns yellow in front of the stop line, it is inevitable that the driver will eventually stop inside the intersection and cause a traffic accident,” the second court ruled.
(11)But the Supreme Court disagreed. “If the light turns yellow before entering the intersection, you must stop just before the intersection even if you expect to cross the stop line. Otherwise, it is reasonable to consider it a traffic violation.”
(12)”Supreme Court precedents have upheld convictions in cases like this and this case is no different,” said a Supreme Court official.”If the yellow light comes on before a vehicle enters an intersection, it must stop at the stop line or just before the intersection. The driver does not have a choice whether to stop or proceed,” he explained.You’re like dogs and pigs, you don’t have a choice.
Why you need a yellow light.
We could save the taxes on traffic lights and just make two colors: red and green.
Justice Oh’s past cases
– Bus driver’s dismissal for embezzling 800 won was justified
– Relief for an assistant principal who bribed 500 million won to become principal
– Relief for university professor who embezzled KRW 270 million in research contract funds after bribing related companies