You Kept the Law? Still Have to Pay the Ticket!

A trucker, Mr. Kim (49), got a citation from the police. The ticket fined him 80,000 won for speeding. According to the ticket, he drove at 113km on an 80km road last month near Wonhyo Bridge in Yongsan Gu, Seoul. Kim did not drive even near the bridge at the time specified on the citation. In addition, his truck was pretty old, and could not speed over 100km per hour. Therefore, under the circumstances, he could not accept the ticket.

Kim visited the police station several times, and finally found out the surveillance camera was out of order at that time. Lately, the police sent him a notice telling him that the citation was repealed.

For several years, the police have been installing surveillance cameras along the highways and streets. But those gadgets are generating innocent victims due to negligent maintenance, defects of machines themselves and vagueness in patrolling standards.

A similar case happened to a cabby Mr. Min (51) at a cross in Donahm Dong, Sungbook Gu, Seoul. He drove into the cross when the lights were turning from yellow to red. He sped up and passed through the crosswalk, but the camera caught him.

The camera was encoded to catch any vehicle passing through the cross 0.5 second after the traffic light was changed.

Min said, "It is more dangerous to hit on the brake in the middle of the cross when the lights are turning to red. Most drivers act on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, they pass through it. But the standards are too stiff. Acting aware of the ticket, a driver could possibly get into an accident."

In response, a police officer said, "It is true that the standards admit no room for discretion. What really matters here is the driving habit. Drivers tend to run the red lights, rather than stop their vehicles."

This year alone, the police have installed 20 multipurpose cameras around the Seoul metropolitan area including Inchon and Kyunggi Province, cameras that can detect vehicles that run over the speed limit or run the red lights. In total, some 1,000 cameras are in operation.

In Seoul, the multipurpose machines were set up in March, and have caught 200 cars a day on average. As of October, the total number of tickets issued reaches up to 53,770.

In addition, cameras have caught 920 cars for speeding.

It is known, even though an official statistics are not yet tallied, that dozens of drivers move for hearing, appealing from the tickets issued based on the cameras.

Furthermore, the police are planning to set up additional 260 camera checking points nationwide. Consequently, more and more drivers will be caught on camera.

Nonetheless, the police have done nothing to maintain the cameras. All the maintenance works are in the hands of the manufacturers. Thus, experts are criticizing the relegation.

One senior police officer confirmed, "The Police Department of Seoul retains 113 cameras. 5 manufacturers have provided us two-year warranties for them. Thus, for the first two years, they do all the repair works, free of charge. After that time period, we have to pay them. In any case, those cameras are too sophisticated for us to handle."

Min Man-gi, secretary general of civil rights organization, criticized, "We need a system under which a third-party organization should be appointed and regularly monitors whether the police maintain those machines thoroughly and properly."

Hyo-Lim Son aryssong@donga.com