Photo not related to article. [Getty Images Bank]
Photo not related to article. [Getty Images Bank]

A cyclist charged with causing the death of a man in his 60s after a head-on collision on a bicycle path has been acquitted.

Judge Yu Seung-won of the Incheon District Court's Criminal Division 6 found A, 57, not guilty Monday on charges of causing death under the Act on Special Cases Concerning Traffic Accidents.

A, an employee at a bicycle company, was indicted after a collision in June 2024 on a bicycle path in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon. While riding for work, he collided with the front wheel of a bicycle ridden by B, who was 66 at the time of death, killing him.

The court ruled, however, that the evidence prosecutors submitted was insufficient to establish that A had failed to keep a proper lookout and caused the accident.

"Taking into account the positions of the bicycles, it appears that A was riding normally in his own lane and that the accident occurred because B was riding the wrong way in the oncoming lane," the court said. The bicycle path had a yellow dashed center line, and B had been riding at the back of a group of three cyclists at the time of the accident. "It is difficult to conclude that A could have anticipated and avoided the accident under these circumstances," the court added. "As the criminal facts have not been proven, we find the defendant not guilty."


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