Driver Dies After Flying Truck Wheel Smashes Into Bus Despite Warnings to Repair

A bus with its front windshield severely damaged swerves across the road before barely coming to a stop.

The accident occurred on March 18 near the Poseung Interchange on the Seohaean Expressway, when a rear wheel detached from a 4.5-ton truck and crashed into an intercity bus traveling in the opposite direction.

The flying wheel pierced the front windshield of the bus, and the driver in his 50s managed to hold onto the steering wheel until the end to prevent a secondary accident, despite sustaining severe injuries.

However, the heavily injured bus driver was transported to the hospital in cardiac arrest while receiving CPR and ultimately passed away, while three passengers on the bus were also injured by flying glass shards.

According to police investigations, this accident turned out to be a "man-made disaster" that could have been sufficiently prevented beforehand.

The National Forensic Service's appraisal results showed that the cause of the accident was severe aging and wear at the connection points between the truck's wheel, bolts, and nuts.

The truck driver, a man in his 70s identified as A, had already received warnings from a repair shop late last year that the parts required repairs due to abnormalities.

Despite hearing this, he did not carry out separate repairs and continued driving after replacing only the tires.

During police questioning, driver A stated to the effect that he "did not notice any significant signs of trouble during regular visual inspections, and reported it to the vehicle owner if there were any issues."

The head of the transportation company, who was responsible for bearing repair costs and is identified as B, also delayed maintenance after receiving reports from A that there were problems with the parts.

B reportedly claimed during police questioning that "he was not told there was an immediate hindrance to driving, so he intended to make repairs when time permitted."

The Gyeonggi Pyeongtaek Police Station has forwarded driver A and vehicle owner B to the prosecution on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents and professional negligence resulting in death and injury, respectively, holding them accountable for neglecting their maintenance duties despite knowing about the defects beforehand.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Kim Gi-hyeon | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.