A taxi driver who crossed the centerline and caused a traffic crash that killed the baby of a Japanese family riding in the taxi has been sent to trial.
The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office said on Feb. 12 that it indicted without detention on Jan. 25 a taxi driver in his 70s, a person surnamed Kang, on charges of causing death or injury under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents.
Kang is accused of crossing the centerline and colliding with a passenger car coming from the opposite direction on a road in Yongsan District, Seoul, at about 7 p.m. on Oct. 21 last year. At the time, Kang was found to have been driving at nearly 100 kph on a road with a speed limit of 50 kph.
A Japanese couple in their 20s who were in the taxi suffered fractures in the crash. Their 9-month-old daughter, who was riding with them, was taken to a hospital unconscious but died about a month after the crash.
Prosecutors, who received the case from police late last year, referred it to criminal mediation in January this year and led the two sides to a settlement. However, because serious negligence such as crossing the centerline and exceeding the speed limit at the time of the crash was confirmed, Kang was sent to trial regardless of the settlement.
Under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents, crashes caused by serious negligence such as crossing the centerline or exceeding the speed limit by 20 kph are exceptions to the offense not punishable against the victim's will, meaning offenders cannot avoid punishment even if they reach a settlement with the victim.