Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Legislation needed to ban watching DMB while driving
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Imposing fines on taxi drivers watching television or Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) has been ruled illegal, but traffic experts continue to call for legislation to restrict viewing programs while in motion.
The Seoul High Court has handed down a ruling in favor of a taxi driver who was fined 600,000 won for watching DMB by the local government, claiming the penalty was unfair because of the lack of laws banning it.
The driver filed the suit when he was caught watching DMB while driving in September 2008 and slapped with the penalty. At the first trial, the court also ruled in favor of the driver as the mayor did not have the right to issue a corrective order.
The Passenger Transport Business Act, legislated in 1961, allows municipal governments to give a business improvement order and Seoul City announced the ordinance banning television or DMB watching while driving in March 2008.
But the court ruled that the city’s ordinance cannot be legal grounds to overturn the spirit of the Act. "The Seoul Mayor does not have the right to impose the penalty overruling the Road Traffic Law," the judge said.
The Act on Special Measures for the Deregulation of Corporate Activities was revised in April 1997 and incapacitated corrective orders from administrative authorities, including the local government on transportation industry. The court ruled, based on this special law.
As of 2009, some 100,000 cars have installed satellite DMBs and 6 million have terrestrial DMBs.
According to a research by the Samsung Traffic Safety Research Institute, only 50 percent of drivers closely observe what’s happening in front of them while watching DMB. This rate is significantly lower than 80 percent for normal drivers or 72 percent for drunken drivers.
Kim In-seok of the institute said watching DMB could be more dangerous than driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.1 percent.
“The first step in driving is collecting information, but DMB viewing distracts this process, increasing the possibility of an accident,” Kim said. "Watching television while driving considerably lowers the driver's ability to control the speed of the vehicle and the distance between cars or respond to unexpected situations.”
The Road Traffic Authority's statistics also show that more than 62 percent of accidents occur due to negligence in looking ahead and warned of distractions such as dozing off, using mobile phones and watching television behind the wheel.
Other countries have enacted laws to prevent drivers from using devices that may distract them while driving.
In the U.S., many states, including Illinois, Oregon and Virginia, have banned drivers from watching television while driving since 2005. Japan also introduced a regulation in the Road Traffic Act, prohibiting watching television or other images behind the wheel in 2004.
By Kwon Mee-yoo
‘운전중 DMB 시청 금지법 필요’
운전중 DMB를 시청하는 택시운전기사에게 벌금을 무는 것은 금지되어 있지만 교통전문가들은 운전중 DMB 시청을 금지하는 입법을 해야 한다고 말했다.
서울 고등법원은 운전중 DMB를 시청한 택시기사에게 60만원 벌금형을 준 것에 대해 이를 기각했다.
삼성 교통안전 연구소에 따르면 약 50%의 운전자만이 DMB를 보는 동안 전방에 신경을 쓰는 것으로 나타났다. 김인석 연구원은 DMB를 시청하며 운전하는 것은 혈중알콜농도 0.1%로 운전하는 것 보다 더 위험하다고 했다.
이미 미국의 많은 주는 2005년부터 운전중 DMB 시청을 금지시켰고 일본도 2004년 운전중 DMB나 다른 것들을 보는 것을 금지했다.