South Korean taxi drivers win right to watch TV in cabs, for now

You know, we’ve made plenty of jokes about the DMB mobile TV functionality found in seemingly every GPS unit released in South Korea, but it looks like taxi drivers in the country take their distractions seriously — serious enough to go to court. That issue apparently came to a head recently when one cab driver challenged a $500 fine he received for watching TV while on the job, which had apparently become a relatively common means to beat boredom during traffic jams but was banned last year by a local regulation in the city of Seoul. While the court obviously didn’t go so far as to condone the practice (watching TV while driving was apparently a factor in upwards of 200 accidents in the country last year), it did rule that the regulation in Seoul was illegal because it was based on a 1961 law that’s been superseded. Cabbies shouldn’t get too comfortable with their in-car rigs just yet, however, as we have a sneaking suspicion this won’t be the final word on the matter.

[Thanks, Badison]

Filed under: Portable Video, Transportation

South Korean taxi drivers win right to watch TV in cabs, for now originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This post is tagged: cab drivers, cabbies, CabDrivers, in-car tv, In-carTv, korea, seoul, south korea, SouthKorea, taxi, taxis