Car owner protests blame for accident

The family of the motorcyclist, Sun Kuo-feng, has been seeking a compensation.

A traffic accident evaluation panel composed of three scholars, one lawyer, a traffic police official and a city government official conducted a probe to find out who should be held accountable.

The report said the primary cause for the accident was that Sun himself was riding the motorcycle with alcohol levels exceeding the legal limit and thus failed to pay attention to the situation ahead.

But the panel also ruled that Huang Chien-shin, the pickup truck owner, should also be held responsible.

The experts blamed Huang for “parking the vehicle at a spot without adequate lighting” as well as for “his failure to turn on vehicle lighting or use a reflecting device as a warning sign.”

Based on the verdict, which identified Huang as the secondary cause for the accident, Kaohsiung police turned Huang to the prosecutor’s office for further probing, for involuntary manslaughter.

If convicted in a subsequent court trial, Huang will be required to serve a sentence of three to six months and provide monetary compensation for Sun’s family in a separate civil lawsuit.

Huang protested the legal action against him, claiming that he parked his car nicely in broad daylight, and that no drivers like him would come out from home to turn on either headlights or taillights as a warning for certain reckless drivers.

Huang’s lawyer said he should not be held responsible as long as he had parked his vehicle in the parking space drawn up on the ground in accordance with regulations.

The parking space used by Huang was designed by the city government, which only lets cars park at places that would not cause any inconvenience or accidents, the lawyer pointed out.

The lawyer said it does not make sense to require all vehicle owners turn on lights during the night because car batteries would soon wear out.

As for the darkness in the area during the night, the public works department of the city government should be held accountable for failing to fulfill its job, said the lawyer.

The head of the evaluation panel noted that there were two similar cases that took place in Kaohsiung, in which both owners of the parked vehicles were held responsible.

However, he added that the two owners in those cases did not leave their cars at legally designated parking spaces.

Many officials enforcing traffic regulations said they did not agree with the panel’s blaming Huang for the death of the drunk motorcyclist.

They suggested that Huang take his case to the Taiwan Provincial Traffic Incident Evaluation Committee or ask the court to carry out a new appraisal.

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