Stars and Stripes on Auto Accidents in Korea

4 Responses to This Entry

1. Tim Miller on September 10, 2007 @ 6:42 am

   Brendon,

   First, Hello there!  Second, in my almost 12 years of living in Korea on and off and driving everywhere from the countryside to the city of Seoul, I have found that the predominant Korean traffic law is the “Me first” principle.  Whatever the situation, Korean drivers believe that it is their God-given right to be first or most important in any driving situation.  This involves every imaginable traffic situation from using the shoulder of the expressway to get ahead of a line of cars waiting in traffic, to using the sidewalk (for motorbikes and sometimes even those annoying little mini vans) and the ever popular running the red light trick.  A Korean friend of mine once told me that to drive in Seoul “you have to have six eyes.” He broke it down like this, two eyes to watch the road in front, one eye to each side of you, one eye to the rear and the other eye to scan everywhere for a way around the traffic jams that you find.  I follow this rule (although I didn’t grow four more eyes) while I was in Seoul.  Basically you just have to be extra vigilant and remember to drive as you see others drive or you’re going to get in an accident for being different.

   Thanks for letting me comment and I’ll be watching your blog now that I’ve found it.  Feel free to drop by mine sometimes too.

2. Doug on September 11, 2007 @ 1:50 pm

   Korea is not the only country that applies the “blame-sharing” concept to automobile accidents.  If you are brave enough to drive in Paris and happen to have an accident in one of the traffic circles, with another vehicle, the apportionment will be 50 – 50.  I’m not sure how the blame is assessed when it is a pedestrian verses a motorized vehicle, and do not want to find out, however, watching the pedestrians as they dodge moving vehicles I assume the pedestrian will be 100% at fault in any accident.

3. Nancy on December 24, 2007 @ 12:46 pm

   Here is my situation:

   My dad who has a US Green Card was in a motor vehicle accident.  He was on a motorcycle and a bus hit him, ran him over, and dragged him some distance.  The Korean police conducted an investigation which concluded that the fault was on the bus driver.  There were eye-witness testimonies, bus driver’s confession that he was guilty, and the actual accident scene & body that was killed.

   The rest of the family are US Citizens and we will be flying out to Korea shortly.  I believe that the bus company wants to settle out; however, what are the legality and procedures to settle out?  What does that mean in Korean Law?  I understand how US law works in the States for settlement, but how does Korea law work in Korea?

4. Brendon Carr on December 24, 2007 @ 1:48 pm

   Dear Nancy,

   I am sorry to hear of your loss.

   The bus driver and bus company are highly motivated to settle with you because under Korean law, where there has been a traffic fatality the driver faces a criminal sentencing (there is no concept of the unavoidable accident). It’s in his interest to get you on his side so that the sentence may be lenient.

   So there will actually be two settlements taking place: Some money will be offered to you in compromise of civil liability, and some restitution will be offered in settlement of criminal liability.

   Civil liability is easy to calculate, as Korea follows a formula to determine the economic value of your father’s lost wages. It takes into account current wage earnings, living costs (generally 30% of earnings are discounted to reflect that a man’s got to eat), and the time value of money.

   The expected retirement age plays a major role—after standard retirement the lost wages tend to be pretty nominal. If I were hit by a bus today, my monthly income would be used for the calculation through my retirement age. As I am 38, this would be a lot of money. If the deceased was in good health, but retired, he would be deemed to have been a day laborer at the time of death, thus having a monthly earnings potential of W1,200,000 (less 30%, for a net income of W840,000 per month).

   There are also components for pain and suffering, and emotional distress, but these are generally quite a bit less than one would expect based on familiarity with the US legal system. The bulk of the settlement will be based on economic loss.

   Settlement of criminal liability is a “blue sky” affair. It’s purely up to private agreement between you and the criminal. Koreans tend to extract their pound of flesh at this point—as much money as the offender can possibly come up with.

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