Korea Tackles Drunk Driving

In the past year, the Korean government has strengthened traffic laws to fight drunk driving.

These new restrictions are proving to have an effect soon after they were established.

On June 24, the government set new limits regarding the amount of blood alcohol allowed for drivers.

Previously, drivers had their licenses suspended when their blood alcohol level was 0.05 percent or higher.

Furthermore, they had their licenses revoked when the blood alcohol level reached 0.1 percent or higher.

Under the new law, these limits were lowered 0.02 percentage points each.

So now, drivers with a blood alcohol level of 0.03 percent or higher will get their licenses suspended.

Those with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent or higher will no longer be allowed to drive.

The stricter legal alcohol limit is expected to discourage people from getting behind the wheel after drinking.

That is because even a small amount of liquor can now result in a drunk-driving violation.

Indeed, in the weeks after the new law took effect, the number of DUI offenses was reportedly down by 19 percent.

Also, the daily average number of drunk-driving accidents has also decreased by 23 percent.

The new legal alcohol limit is part of "Yoon Chang-ho's Law," named after a university student who was killed by a drunk driver in Busan in late 2018.

Due to the nation's lenient drunk-driving laws, people thought the driver received too light a prison sentence.

In the months after the tragedy, the National Assembly worked quickly and passed two bills that toughened punishment for drunk-driving deaths and injuries.

Under the new laws, a DUI offender who causes death faces a minimum of three years in jail and up to life imprisonment.

 

 

• suspend  səˈspend   (공식적으로) 유예[중단]하다 ,  (공식적으로) 연기[유보]하다  

• revoke  rɪ|voʊk  폐지[철회/취소]하다

• discourage  dɪs|kɜːrɪdʒ   (무엇을 어렵게 만들거나 반대하여) 막다[말리다]  ,   의욕[열의]을 꺾다, 좌절시키다 (=dishearten), (↔encourage)

• get behind the wheel  운전하다   Indeed   (긍정적인 진술·대답을 강조하여) 정말[확실히] , 실제로  

• reportedly  rɪ|pɔːrtɪdli  전하는 바에 따르면, 소문에 의하면

• lenient  ˈliːniənt  (처벌·규칙 적용이) 관대한  

• tragedy ˈtrædʒədi   비극(적인 사건)  ,비극 (작품) (→comedy)  the National Assembly  (한국 등의) 국회,국민 의회

• toughen ˈtʌfn (쉽게 깨지거나 하지 않도록) 더 단단하게[질기게] 만들다, 강화하다 

• punishment  ˈpʌnɪʃmənt  벌, 처벌, 형벌 (→capital punishment, corporal punishment)

• up to something  (특정한 수·정도 등)까지 , (특정한 위치·시점)까지 

• life imprisonment  종신형, 무기 금고형  imprison  투옥하다, 감금하다