Court: revengeful driving is like using violence with lethal weapon

The court ruled that cutting in line while driving is as serious as violence using a deadly weapon.

According to the court, Choi, a 30-year-old man, who was driving his Tuscani on the first lane of Yulgok street in downtown Seoul in October last year decided to take revenge on Kim, a 36-year-old female driver, who was driving a Genesis and waiting for the left turn traffic suddenly cut his car off. Choi chased Kim`s car and caught up near the Wonnam-dong intersection. He did not use a turn signal and suddenly jumped in front of her car. They managed to avoid an accident because Kim hit the brakes. She honked and protested but he did not stop there. Choi kept chasing her car for about one kilometer and continued to cut her car in near the funeral hall of Seoul National University Hospital and at the intersection of Sungkyunkwan University. She had to hit the brakes abruptly each time and her four family members got injured inside the car were diagnosed with bruise treatment and sprain treatment, which require 1 to 2 weeks of treatment. Kim accused Choi and he was brought to justice.

The judge at the Seoul Central District Court sentenced him 18 months in prison with two years of probation Sunday. The court applied the “injuries involving group and deadly weapons" clause of the law on violence, not the road traffic act. It sees that revengeful driving using a car is like violence using a deadly weapon, which requires additional punishment. However, the court sentenced a suspension since the female driver was partially responsible and the defendant regretted about his act.

sunggyu@donga.com