"If It Had Hit a Person..."...Looking Where the Arrow Stuck in the Car Door Came From

Mechanical Malfunction at Korea National Sport University Archery Range
Arrow Flies 100m, Pierces Driver's Door by 11cm

It was recently revealed that an archery arrow flying from 100 meters away struck the door of a passenger car waiting at a traffic light at an intersection on a 12-lane road in the heart of Seoul.

On the 30th, MBN reported on an archery arrow penetration accident that occurred in June at Dunchon Intersection in Songpa-gu, Seoul. At the time, an archery arrow suddenly flew and pierced the door of a passenger car waiting at the traffic light at the intersection. The arrow came from a nearby archery practice range at Korea National Sport University. This archery range is located on a rooftop with an open ceiling, and an incorrectly fired arrow flew out onto the road where cars were passing. The arrow, flying from 100 meters away, penetrated 11 cm into the driver's side door of the vehicle.

An arrow shot from the Korean National Sport University archery practice range stuck into the door of a passenger car waiting at a traffic signal. [Image source=MBN news screen capture]

A citizen who witnessed the accident said, "An arrow was shot at a passing car and stuck in it," and recalled the situation, saying, "'Wow, that could have been fatal if it went wrong'..." The arrow was reportedly fired from a 'compound bow,' which is classified as a mechanical bow. A representative from Korea National Sport University explained the accident to MBN, saying, "The regulator malfunctioned and exploded, causing the arrow to fly outside the archery range." Students at Korea National Sport University sometimes shoot over 10,000 arrows a day from the rooftop with an open ceiling. Because of this, local merchants and citizens have expressed concerns, but even though more than two months have passed since the misfire accident, no measures such as covering the archery range ceiling or raising safety fences have been taken. Regarding this, a nearby merchant named Hwang expressed concern, saying, "If someone walking by gets hit in the head, they would die instantly," and added, "There is always a possibility that a citizen passing by could get hit again. There is no guarantee that it won't happen."

Another issue is that there are no separate facility regulations for preventing safety accidents at archery training centers, so even if facility reinforcement is not immediately implemented, there is no way to sanction it. Korea National Sport University stated that they plan to take necessary measures soon, including reinforcing safety fences.

Meanwhile, similar accidents have occurred before. In 2020, in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, a misfire accident occurred at an archery practice range behind the Jeonju Sports Complex, where an arrow pierced the door of a sports utility vehicle (SUV) about 100 meters away. The arrow penetrated the left rear door of the car and lodged into a child car seat. Fortunately, no one was inside the car at the time, so there were no casualties. At that time, players were practicing at the archery range, and it was found that the misfire accident occurred because the spring of the equipment that increases the arrow's speed broke. The misfired arrow flew outside through a gap of about 1 meter between the archery range fences.