Driving under the influence of drugs for refusing to take a breathalyzer test... "Enhanced punishment" with one voice.

[Anchor]
Recently, there have been a series of dangerous cases, such as refusing to drink and running away or driving under the influence of drugs.

It is pointed out that there are many cases of human damage, so stronger punishment is needed.

Reporter Yuh-hyun reports.

[Reporter]
It is a road in Banpo-dong, Seoul.

When officers knock on the window, the stopped vehicle pushes the patrol car and leaves.

When the police were dispatched after receiving a report of suspected drunk driving, they tried to run away.

The two police officers, who were hanging on to the escape vehicle, were injured in the face and knees.

[Kim Boo-seok / Director of Crime Prevention Response Division, Seocho Police Station, Seoul: Turn off the engine and get off, ordered to get off several times, and the driver shook his head and started stepping on the accelerator. When I pushed the patrol car and started to turn right, one more patrol car came and triangular to the right to build a cordon.]

In Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, a 20-year-old man who refused a police drunk inspection and was running away hit and killed a street cleaner.

In Incheon, a drugged man and woman hit a motorcycle while driving, injuring a driver.

Dangerous driving behavior is getting worse every year.

The number of cases of refusing to take a breathalyzer test is steadily increasing, and the number of cases where licenses are revoked for drug driving is also increasing rapidly.

In fact, the number of non-compliance with sobriety tests jumped from 2,600 in 2019 to 3,400 last year.

I took drugs and drove. The number of cases where the license was revoked has also nearly doubled in the last five years.

As similar cases are repeated, there are consistent calls for tougher punishment.

Refusing to take a breathalyzer test has a lower statutory lower limit compared to drunk driving,

Drug driving is also due to the level of punishment being less than half of drunk driving.

[Lee Yun-ho / Chair Professor of Police Public Administration at Korea Cyber University] The level of punishment for drinking or drug driving is not that high. For example, there may be cases where the punishment is not good, the punishment is not good, and there are cases where you think wrong. That's why the deterrent effect through punishment is weak....]

Several amendments to the Road Traffic Act have been proposed in the 22nd National Assembly to avoid alcohol consumption or to strengthen drug driving punishment, but the threshold of the National Assembly plenary session has not yet been crossed.

I'm YTN's YOSHIHYUN.



Photographer: Shim Won-bo

Design: Kim Hyo-jin