Three men in their 20s died after a car traveling toward the South Gyeongsang Provincial Government building on Jungang-daero in Sinwol-dong, Seongsan-gu, Changwon, struck a parked bus in the early morning of May 27. [Newsis]
Three men in their 20s died after a car traveling toward the South Gyeongsang Provincial Government building on Jungang-daero in Sinwol-dong, Seongsan-gu, Changwon, struck a parked bus in the early morning of May 27. [Newsis]

The families of three university students killed when their car struck a parked bus on a rain-slicked road in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, are demanding a full investigation into the accident. They are questioning the reliability of the vehicle's event data recorder and alleging the bus was parked in a no-stopping zone at the time of the crash.

A bereaved parent who lost a son in the accident posted a lengthy appeal Thursday on the online community Bobaedream, asking the public to "help uncover the truth."

The crash occurred around 5 a.m. on May 27 on Jungang-daero in Sinwol-dong, Seongsan-gu, Changwon, when a car driven by a man in his 20s skidded on the wet road and slammed into a bus parked along the roadway. The driver and two passengers — all classmates in the same university department — were killed.

Changwon Jungbu Police Station said analysis of the car's event data recorder, or EDR, showed the vehicle was traveling at 161 kilometers per hour approximately 3.5 seconds before impact. The posted speed limit on Jungang-daero is 60 kph. Police said they also found evidence that the driver attempted to steer and brake just before the collision, and investigators are focusing on the possibility that the car lost control while speeding on the wet road.

The families, however, have challenged the EDR data police presented.

"In sections where a vehicle slides, spins or hydroplanes, the accuracy of mechanical data cannot be guaranteed and must be cross-verified against other circumstantial evidence," the families said. They accused police of framing the case around the unverified figure of 161 kph, saying investigators had "slapped on an 'extreme speeding' label and shaped public opinion in a way that shifts all responsibility onto the victims."

The families also took issue with the bus, saying it had been parked in a no-stopping zone.

"The entire stretch of road where the accident happened is a no-parking zone," they said. They added that police had failed to conduct a proper follow-up investigation into the illegally parked bus, which they called "one of the key factors that turned a wet-road skid into a fatal crash."

The families also raised concerns about the timeline of the accident and the response that followed.

They said police had told them there was no CCTV footage of the crash, but that the families had since located and obtained footage themselves from a nearby building. That footage, they said, showed the actual time of the accident was 2:20 a.m. — earlier than the time police had announced. They urged police to explain why the wrecked vehicle had been left at the scene for a significant period without response.

The families said the same CCTV footage cast doubt on the EDR-derived speed figure, arguing the recorded 161 kph had been inflated by unreliable data. "Even now, check whether there were any speeding vehicles on that road at the time of the accident," they said.

Police said they are continuing to question the bus driver and others to establish the precise sequence of events. However, investigators acknowledged that determining exactly what happened in the moments before the crash is difficult, as all three occupants of the car died.

‘팔천피의 역설’ 외인 올해 120조 엑소더스, 증시·환율 덮쳤다 [금융시장 ‘검은 금요일’]

‘팔천피의 역설’ 외인 올해 120조 엑소더스, 증시·환율 덮쳤다 [금융시장 ‘검은 금요일’]

코스피 지수가 사상 첫 ‘팔천피’ 시대를 열었지만 외국인 투자자들의 대규모 자금 이탈이 이어지면서 시장 불안이 커지고 있다. 올해 들어 120조원 가까이 순매도한 외국
https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10764308

betterj@heraldcorp.com