Not fastened seat belts…Rain overtaking disaster, Starex black box secured

The police believe that the Starex rollover accident that occurred on the 1st of the Dangjin Daejeon Expressway Namsejong IC ramp was overturned when a car running at speed quickly entered the ramp section.

If you look at the video of the Korea Expressway Corporation’s Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) installed near Sejong IC on the day of the accident, a white Starex van running on the 2nd lane in the direction of Dangjin on the Dangjin Daejeon Expressway overtakes the Mercedes vehicle ahead of the Nam Sejong IC with about 300-400m left. Then, urgently change lanes to the ramp section.

The place where Starex entered the ramp section was a safety zone (white hatched) between the main line and the crossroads. This section should not be used unless there is an emergency. The speed limit for the ramp section is 40 km/h, but it was confirmed that the speed of the vehicle in the video exceeded this significantly. The exact speed is being investigated by the police.

At that time, the road near Namsejong IC was wet from rain from dawn. The speed limit on the Daejeon Dangjin Expressway is 110 km/h, but you must slow down at least 30% on rainy roads. The police and fire authorities found that Starex, who was entering the ramp, was unable to slow down and crashed into facilities, losing the center of gravity and overturning. At the time of the accident, some of the occupants were thrown out of the vehicle due to shock.

The Starex driving speed, which was confirmed by Korea Expressway Corporation, exceeded 100 km/h. The vehicle departing from Osu IC on the Wanju Suncheon Expressway at 7:13 am on that day arrived at Nam Sejong IC at 8:21 am, which is only 1 hour and 8 minutes. It runs a 122km distance between Osu IC and Namsejong IC at 106km/h. When I went, I was faster. The vehicle departing from Namsejong IC at 4:51 am exited Osu IC at 5:51 am, which is only an hour later. Passed the section at a speed of 120 km/h.

In addition to the highway CCTV images handed over from the Korea Expressway Corporation, the police also secured black boxes installed on Starex and Mercedes vehicles. The accident vehicle, the Starex black box, was damaged, and the video was restored to the Chungnam Police Agency. The image of the black box of the Mercedes vehicle was confirmed to be clear.

Twelve people, including two Koreans and 10 Chinese, were on board the accident vehicle. Among them, five people, including the driver Kim and the Chinese, Kim Mo (37), wore heavy and light injuries, and were scattered in four hospitals in Daejeon to receive treatment. A total of 7 people died, including 6 Chinese people, including Koreans Choi Mo (47) and aunt (47). The police believe that most of the occupants did not fasten their seat belts, resulting in a significant loss of life.

Sejong Police Station, which received related data from the Highway Patrol District 2 (Chungnam Police Agency), is investigating Starex passengers and Mercedes drivers along with black box image analysis. It was confirmed that the accident vehicle was covered by comprehensive insurance.

The police will intensively investigate the reason for changing lanes in a hurry after passing the car in front of the Nam Sejong IC against Kim. In addition to Kim’s statement, the police predict that the black box video will be the key to finding out the cause of the accident.

A police official said, “Since it is a large accident, the Sejong Police Agency will form a dedicated investigation team and direct the investigation.”

Daejeon·Sejong = Reporters Banghyun Kim, Jinho Shin, Jongkwon Choi, Jinho Park [email protected]