On the 27th, a car involved in a crash that killed three college students in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, was found to have been traveling at 161 kph just before impact. Police are looking into the possibility that the driver lost control while speeding well over the limit on a rain-slick road.
Changwon Jungbu Police Station said on the 31st that an analysis of the vehicle's event data recorder (EDR) found the speed was recorded at 161 kph 3.5 seconds before the collision. The speed limit on Jungang-daero in Sinwol-dong, Seongsan District, Changwon, where the crash occurred, is 60 kph.
Police also confirmed indications that the driver steered or tried to brake just before the crash. They are focusing on the possibility that the car skidded while traveling at high speed on a wet road. However, it has not yet been determined why the vehicle accelerated to 161 kph at the time. With all three occupants dead, it is difficult to secure testimony to directly confirm what happened just before the crash.
Whether alcohol was involved has not been confirmed. Police sought to send the victims' blood to the National Forensic Service for analysis, but the process did not proceed because prosecutors did not seek a search and seizure warrant, citing the case as one with "no right to prosecute."
The crash occurred at about 5 a.m. on the 27th on Jungang-daero in Sinwol-dong, Seongsan District, Changwon. A passenger car heading toward the South Gyeongsang Provincial Government building struck a bus parked on the roadside, and three men in their 20s in the car all died. The deceased were classmates in the same department at the same university.
At the time of the crash, the passenger car was found to have been traveling in the third lane of a five-lane one-way road when it collided with a bus stopped in the fifth lane. The bus was parked outside permitted hours and was reportedly partly encroaching on a double yellow line indicating a no-parking and no-stopping zone.
However, considering factors such as the crash occurring when the car rear-ended the bus at high speed, police believe it is difficult to see the bus's position as the direct cause of the crash. Based on the EDR analysis and nearby witness accounts, the exact circumstances of the crash are under investigation.