A Seoul court Sunday handed down a ruling invalidating a fine slapped on a taxi driver who had been caught driving while watching television via onboard satellite digital multimedia broadcasting or S-DMB.
Mounting a television on a Korean's dashboard has to be among the worst ideas dreamed up on the peninsula this decade, because they certainly don't need help being terrible drivers. South Korea was ranked among the worst countries to drive in the world by Forbes earlier this year. A 2005 Times article had stats from 2003 that showed South Korea had the highest motor vehicle accident rate in the OCED, while the latest data (.pdf) using figures from 2004 shows South Korea has the second-highest number of road vehicle fatalities per million drivers, behind Turkey. 42% of children under 15 who died in Korea in 2005 were killed in traffic accidents, and South Korea has the highest accident rate among pedestrians in the OECD, though that last statistic owes just as much to people not knowing how to walk.
But in spite of the alarming headline from the Times, this looks to be about jurisdiction, and not about thinking it a good idea to watch television while driving.
The Seoul Administrative Court ordered a ward office to cancel a fine of 600,000 won ($510) levied on a private taxi driver, identified by his surname Kim.
"The government has no legal ground to impose a fine, meaning the punishment of Kim was illegal," presiding Judge Lee Jin-man said in the ruling, citing a special law enacted in June 1993.
In 1961, a law empowering mayors and provincial governors to amend regulations on public transportation services for better services took effect. Based on this, Seoul City enacted an ordinance that bans the use of DMB while operating a car in March 2008.
But another special law with higher legal status than the regular one took effect in 1993, banning the government's arbitrary amendment of rules on public transportation services.
It was initiated at that time as part of the government's business-friendly efforts by granting more autonomy to private firms including public transportation service providers.
"The punishment imposed based on the 1961 law goes against the special law, which is in itself illegal," the judge said.
Nonetheless, at least people realize how dangerous it is to have a television in the car:
Many experts and drivers are raising concern over possible side effects stemming from the ruling. They say watching DMB behind the wheel is extremely risky, and thus should be prohibited.
Shin Dong-young, 32, a skilled driver with no accident over the past ten years, said, "Watching DMB behind the wheel is much more risky than using a cell phone."
"Driver's sight and attention are easily distracted by DMB," Shin said. "Cell phones may disrupt a drivers' concentration and hamper swift reactions. But DMB is much worse."
Though after mentioning "experts" I wish they would have talked to somebody other than the guy who happened to be passing by.
4 comments:
If the city's ordinance against DMB in cars was found to conflict with the ban on "arbitrary" rules, then the courts are retardeder than I thought.
How the hell is a ban on cabbies watching TV while on duty an "arbitrary" measure? I'd say it has a clear safety purpose, and it's a very reasonable and minimally invasive way of effecting that purpose.
I'm hoping the "retardeder" was an attempt at a cruel irony. ;)
Yes, it was...:)
Well, the congress has bills in motion that will make this recent ruling moot. The Congress will make these things illegal to watch (and using cellphones, too) while driving
The problem will then be one of enforcement, as is the case with all of Korea's laws. But at least it will be on the books as a no-no and the courts won't be able to use this argument again.
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