The Korea Herald

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Videos of deadly car accident create suspicions of 'sudden acceleration'

By Lim Jae-seong

Published : Dec. 15, 2022 - 17:06

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This photo captured from local broadcaster KBS's news coverage shows the car dashing with smoke on Dec. 6 in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. (KBS) This photo captured from local broadcaster KBS's news coverage shows the car dashing with smoke on Dec. 6 in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. (KBS)

Footage from a deadly car crash in Gangneung, Gangwon Provinc is raising public suspicions about whether the cause was “sudden unintended acceleration.”

The videos of the accident show a car driven by a 68-year-old woman running amok for about 600 meters on Dec. 6.

The car crashed into a trench by the road, claiming her 12-year-old grandson’s life and leaving the driver seriously injured.

“Oh my God, why doesn’t this work? Oh, something is wrong,“ the frightened driver said in a video taken by the car’s dashcam.

The bereaved family argues that the accident was caused by sudden unintended acceleration.

“We can see the brake lamp was on (in the video taken by surveillance cameras) while the car zoomed forward,” said the father of the victim and son of the driver in an interview with the local media.

Some experts also observe that it might be a sudden acceleration case, considering that there was a loud noise, an abnormal emission of fumes and other factors such as how long the car accelerated.

“The video shows a typical scene of sudden acceleration, even showing smoke from tires (produced when applying the brake).” Daelim University professor of automotive engineering Kim Pil-soo told local broadcaster KBS.

An investigation is ongoing, but the police have booked the driver for accidental homicide, which the family has claimed is unjust.

According to the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, more than 200 car accidents have been caused by sudden unintended acceleration since 2017. Automakers have not accepted any of the cases as having been caused by product error.

The maker of the crashed car vowed to cooperate with police to unveil the reason behind the accident.