Car Passenger Safety

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A court has ruled that passengers riding in the passenger seat are also partially to blame for traffic accidents that occur when the driver is working with their GPS device. Let’s find out more.

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The driver enters the name of the destination into his GPS device while driving. In cases like these, most passengers do little to stop the driver from touching the GPS while in motion. But the risk of accidents rises when drivers handle navigation devices, because their visual field becomes compromised. In 2014 a 48-year-old passenger got into a car accident when the driver of the car was handling a GPS device. The car crashed into a retaining wall because the driver failed to notice it. The passenger sustained serious injuries. The victim's family filed a suit against the driver's insurance company, demanding approximately 1.5 million U.S. dollars. But the court has ruled that the passenger was 10 percent liable for the accident. The judge said that the passenger ignored the duty of care to demand safe driving.

[Soundbite] Yoon Sung-yeol(Judge, Seoul Central District Court) : "When the risk of accidents is high, passengers who fail to stop reckless driving while recognizing it can be found partially guilty."

Back in 2012, a court ruled that passengers must caution drivers against reckless driving that raises the risk of accidents.