A school zone sign. This image is for reference only and is unrelated to the article. [Yonhap]
A school zone sign. This image is for reference only and is unrelated to the article. [Yonhap]

A driver in his 70s who struck and killed a 12-year-old boy while speeding through a school zone has been handed a suspended prison sentence.

Judge Na So-ra of the Pohang Branch of Daegu District Court on Monday sentenced the defendant, identified only as A, to two years in prison suspended for three years on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning Traffic Accidents resulting in death.

A was indicted after driving a 25-seat bus through a school zone near a large apartment complex in Inni-ri, Heunghae-eup, Buk-gu, Pohang, at around 9:57 p.m. on Feb. 13, striking a boy identified as B, who was riding a bicycle, and killing him.

Investigators found that A had been traveling at about 41.5 kilometers per hour on a road with a 30-kilometer-per-hour speed limit.

B had been riding in the same direction and was changing lanes from the second lane to the first when the front of A's bus struck the rear of the bicycle. B fell from the impact and was then run over by the vehicle.

He died of severe head trauma.

Police immediately launched an investigation, questioning A and drivers of vehicles parked near the scene, and secured closed-circuit television footage from the apartment complex and nearby shops as well as the dashcam recording from the bus to reconstruct the sequence of events.

A National Forensic Service analysis confirmed the vehicle had been traveling more than 10 kilometers per hour over the speed limit at the time of the crash.

Police determined that A might have avoided the accident had he observed the speed limit, applied charges under the Act on Special Cases Concerning Traffic Accidents, and referred the case to prosecutors in April.

"The sentence was determined in consideration of the degree to which the defendant failed in his duty of care by not keeping a proper lookout ahead, and the grave consequence of death," the court said in explaining the ruling.


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