[In-Depth Look] Taxi Blocking Ambulance, Our Civic Consciousness

Lee Jun, Associate Research Fellow, Transportation Safety and Disaster Prevention Research Center, Korea Transport Institute

"If you die, I'll take responsibility!" This is not a line from an excited protagonist in a drama or movie. It came from a man in his 30s who stopped an ambulance in the middle of the road. On June 8th, around 3 p.m., a private ambulance with its siren on was heading to the emergency room when it lightly collided with a personal taxi while changing lanes. The ambulance driver explained that there was an emergency patient on board and that the incident would be resolved after hospital transfer, but the taxi driver insisted on handling the incident first, blocking the ambulance and standing there for nearly 10 minutes. Ultimately, less than five hours after arriving at the hospital, the patient died. This incident sparked public outrage, with about 736,000 people signing a petition on the Blue House National Petition Board demanding punishment for the taxi driver.

The taxi driver was arrested by the prosecution on charges including obstruction of business, special assault, and insurance fraud. Unfortunately, this is not the first such incident. In July 2017, a driver deliberately blocked an ambulance transporting an emergency patient simply because the ambulance honked its horn for a long time. In January 2015, a private ambulance carrying a four-year-old child with brain damage was involved in a collision with a car that suddenly stopped; the ambulance staff tried to settle the accident, but the other driver blocked the ambulance for 10 minutes, leading to a confrontation.

General vehicles have a 'responsibility' to yield to emergency vehicles. Private ambulances are no exception. According to Article 29 of the Road Traffic Act, emergency vehicles such as fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances (including private ambulances) are allowed to violate signals and speed limits in emergencies. Furthermore, paragraphs 4 and 5 of Article 29 require all vehicle drivers to temporarily stop and avoid intersections when an emergency vehicle approaches and to yield the right of way to allow the emergency vehicle to pass first.

Countries such as the United States, Australia, Japan, and Germany similarly have laws mandating speeding, signal and lane violations, and the obligation of general vehicles to stop when emergency vehicles approach to ensure their priority passage. Abroad, 'making way' or 'clearing the road' is not considered a courtesy but a mandatory duty. In Germany, for example, since the Emergency Lane concept was legislated in 1982, when an emergency vehicle with sirens approaches, general vehicles must move diagonally left or right. This helps prevent obstruction of the emergency vehicle’s path. Violators face fines of about 30,000 Korean won. Most citizens participate not because of the fine but because they see it as 'the right thing to do.'

What about South Korea? In 2019, a campaign to clear the way for fire trucks was conducted in over 200 locations nationwide. Despite sirens and announcements of fire dispatch, it was difficult to find vehicles yielding or moving aside. Instead, several cars quickly crossed in front of the fire trucks. Eventually, the fire trucks got stuck in traffic congestion, unable to move, and had to cross the center line to avoid stationary vehicles.

Just as the saying goes, "My cold hurts more than someone else's cancer," the road I need to take may seem more urgent than the siren behind me. We all feel that way. But no one knows?one day, the person in the ambulance might be my beloved family, friend, or myself. If my 30 seconds can extend someone’s life by 30 years or end it, what choice should we make? Perhaps a developed country is not defined by its national development but by its citizens with mature civic consciousness. In a world where love fades and selfishness grows over time, we need to think a little more about others.