'10m' Drunk Driving for Vehicle Passage... Acquittal Upheld in Appeal Trial

Court Rules "Emergency Evacuation to Avoid Urgency and Difficulty"

A court ruling has determined that moving a car about 10 meters on a narrow road barely wide enough for one vehicle to pass, in order to allow other cars to pass and prevent accidents, cannot be punished as drunk driving.

On the 27th, the 1-1 Criminal Appeal Division of Ulsan District Court (Presiding Judge Shim Hyun-wook) dismissed the prosecution's appeal against Mr. A, who was charged with violating the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving), and upheld the original verdict of not guilty.

In August 2021, Mr. A had a drinking session with acquaintances in Ulsan City and then asked his girlfriend, Ms. B, who had not consumed alcohol, to drive. During their trip, the two argued inside the car, and an angry Ms. B stopped the car at a road corner and refused to drive. The location was a narrow road barely wide enough for one vehicle to pass, so when Mr. A’s car stopped, the vehicles behind could not move either. When the cars behind repeatedly honked to ask for the car to be moved, Mr. A asked Ms. B to move the vehicle, but she refused.

With no other choice, Mr. A, in a state of severe intoxication with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.220%, got into the car and drove it about 10 meters to exit onto a main road, then parked his vehicle by the roadside.

The first trial court judged that although Mr. A drove under the influence, it was an unavoidable choice (emergency escape) to avoid an urgent and difficult situation. The road where Ms. B stopped the car was a no-parking zone, and if the vehicle had been left there overnight, traffic congestion would have continued and the risk of accidents would have been high. The court also considered that Mr. A drove only a very short distance, parked the car in a safe place, and immediately got out, and thus acquitted him.

The prosecution appealed the first trial verdict, arguing that Mr. A did not repeatedly ask Ms. B to drive and that his blood alcohol concentration was very high.

The appellate court ruled, "Considering that the road was narrow enough for only one vehicle to pass, that Ms. B, who was refusing to drive after the argument and was in an agitated state, was unlikely to drive again, and that the vehicles behind repeatedly honked, it would have been difficult to wait indefinitely for a designated driver." The court further explained, "Since Mr. A moved the car only a short distance sufficient for the vehicles behind to pass and immediately got out, it was to avoid traffic danger and not with the intention to continue driving."

Meanwhile, separately, Mr. A was fined 3 million won for obstructing official duties after he struck the breathalyzer and pushed a police officer who arrived at the scene to conduct a sobriety test.