[Exclusive] 40-Year-Old Man Arrested for Crashing Motorcycle While Under the Influence of Drugs

[Asia Economy Reporters Donghoon Jeong, Jeongyun Lee] A man in his 40s who caused an accident while riding a motorcycle under the influence of drugs was arrested by the police.

The Western Seoul Police Station announced on the 1st that they have booked and are investigating Mr. Lee (49) on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act. According to the police, on the afternoon of the 26th of last month, they received reports near a alley on Eungam-ro in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, stating "someone riding a motorcycle crashed into a flower bed and fell" and "drunk driving occurred," and police were dispatched. It is known that no casualties occurred in the accident.

The responding officers did not detect alcohol but found it suspicious that the driver could not properly control his body and had slurred speech, and voluntarily accompanied the driver to the traffic investigation unit. After conducting a drug reagent test, it was revealed that the man had taken Philopon. The police are investigating the detailed circumstances of the incident with Mr. A.

Recently, cases of driving under the influence of drugs have been increasing. On the 19th of last month, a man in his 40s drove erratically for about 5 km from Nowon-gu to an elementary school in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu, while under the influence of both alcohol and drugs, and was caught by the police following a citizen's report. This man's blood alcohol concentration exceeded the license cancellation level (0.08%). Seeing that he could not properly control his body, the police conducted an on-site drug test, which showed a positive reaction for Philopon. On the 17th of last month, a man in his 40s who confessed by phone to having taken drugs and then crashed into a guardrail while driving and fled, along with a female passenger in her 30s, were arrested. Last year, a man in his 50s who drove under the influence of drugs and alcohol and fatally struck a woman in her 20s was also caught. Initially, due to the timing of the drug use, he was charged with reckless driving rather than reckless driving causing death, but the prosecution changed the indictment at the first trial, changing the charge from death under the Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling to reckless driving causing death under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

If an accident occurs while driving under the influence of drugs or substances, the offender's burden significantly increases. This is because the government has decided to set the upper limit of accident burden payments as "the full amount of insurance paid." In this case, the insurance company can claim the entire amount paid to the victims from the offender. In September last year, a driver who was hallucinating after taking drugs in Haeundae, Busan, crashed into two passenger cars and caused a seven-car pileup while speeding and fleeing. About 810 million won in insurance payments were made to compensate nine injured people, but the offending driver did not pay any accident burden.