Substitute Driver Caught Speeding Was the Man Drinking at the Next Table

Drove 40 Kilometers With a Suspended-Level Blood Alcohol Concentration
Reached 150 km/h on the Highway... Prior Record of Drunk Driving Convictions

A substitute driver was apprehended by the police after driving a customer's vehicle at 150 km/h on the highway while under the influence of alcohol.

Police officers conducting a drunk driving crackdown. Photo by The Asia Business Daily DB

On November 12, the Incheon Jungbu Police Station announced that a man in his 50s, identified as Mr. A, had been booked without detention on charges of drunk driving under the Road Traffic Act.

Mr. A is accused of driving approximately 40 kilometers in a customer's passenger car from Goyang, Gyeonggi Province to Yeongjongdo, Incheon, at around 2:20 a.m. on October 25 while intoxicated. At that time, he reportedly exceeded the speed limit by accelerating up to 150 km/h on a highway where the speed limit was 100 km/h.

The police, who responded to a report from the customer, Mr. B, measured Mr. A's blood alcohol concentration at a level that would result in a license suspension (between 0.03% and 0.08%).

Mr. B told the police, "The warning sound kept going off because of the speeding, and when I looked at the substitute driver's face, I realized he was the person who had been drinking at the table next to mine at the bar."

The police investigation revealed that Mr. A had accepted the substitute driving request through KakaoT and had a prior record of multiple drunk driving offenses.

During questioning, Mr. A reportedly claimed, "After drinking, I rested at a PC cafe and thought I had sobered up, so I accepted the substitute driving request."