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Are you legally a pedestrian if you're outside the crosswalk? Yes, the Constitutional Court has ruled.

Published: 26 May. 2026, 16:52 Updated: 26 May. 2026, 17:56

Children and adults traverse a crosswalk in Gangwon on March 11. [YONHAP]

A person crossing slightly outside crosswalk markings is still a pedestrian protected by relevant traffic laws, according to a recent Constitutional Court ruling.

Last Thursday, the court overturned the prosecutorial decision not to indict a driver accused of hitting a pedestrian who had stepped slightly outside a crosswalk. In a unanimous decision, the Constitutional Court’s nine justices ruled that the victim qualified for protection as a pedestrian under the Road Traffic Act.

“The prosecutorial decision not to indict the suspect violates the victim’s constitutional rights,” the Constitutional Court said.

In January 2024, a pedestrian who was walking slightly outside the crosswalk was hit by a car that was making a right turn without first coming to a complete stop. The victim suffered injuries that required six weeks of treatment.

At the time, prosecutors declined to indict the driver, claiming that the victim could not legally be considered a “pedestrian on a crosswalk.”

The victim later filed a constitutional complaint, arguing that standing in front of the crosswalk with the intention of crossing should have been enough to signal to the driver that they were about to enter the crosswalk, citing the first paragraph of Article 27 of the Road Traffic Act.

Justices are seen inside the Constitutional Court in central Seoul on May 21. [YONHAP]

The Constitutional Court sided with the victim. The driver bore a legal duty to stop before the crosswalk, as the victim had been standing near the markings to cross the road where the accident occurred and had started walking toward the crosswalk after checking for traffic, the court said.

The court also pointed to revisions made to the Road Traffic Act in January 2022. Under the amended law, drivers are required to stop not only when pedestrians are already crossing, but also when they are about to enter the crosswalk.

“The legal protections still apply even when an accident happens slightly outside a crosswalk, as long as the pedestrian was clearly in the process of crossing, although they have drifted beyond the marked lines due to movement, stride or surrounding conditions,” the court said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JO SU-BIN [[email protected]]