A truck drove into a flea market event in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, killing a mother and her son and injuring five others. Police are investigating both driver error and the possibility of a vehicle defect.
The crash occurred as the vehicle entered a pedestrian area from an adjacent road. The event was held as a weekend market, and families were gathered around the stalls at the time.
광고 문의 · 300×250Fire authorities dispatched ambulances immediately after the call and moved the injured to nearby hospitals. The injured are divided between serious and minor cases, and the site was closed off after the crash.
Police have obtained event data recorder information for analysis, separately from any claim of sudden unintended acceleration. Accelerator and brake inputs and changes in speed are preserved in the record and serve as primary evidence.
Whether physical separation between the event area and the roadway was adequate is also under review. Standards for vehicle barriers at temporary events are often looser than at permanent facilities, a point raised repeatedly.
The blind spot at temporary event sites
At short-run events such as flea markets and festivals, permitting authority and safety responsibility are easily dispersed. When roles among organizers, property owners and local governments are unclear, control lines end up being nominal.
Vehicle ramming incidents recur abroad as well, and each time physical barriers such as bollards are proposed as the remedy. The common criticism is that installation is frequently deferred over cost and appearance.