Mother drops child at school, then fails breath test in school zone

"All I had last night was two beers."

The Songpa Police Station conducted a sweeping traffic crackdown Thursday morning in the school zone around Singa Elementary School in Garak-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul. Among those caught was a woman in her 40s who had just dropped her child off at school and offered excuses after failing a roadside breath test.

Officers took up positions along Songi-ro, the road running beside the school's western wall, starting around 8 a.m. They focused on drunk driving, failure to wear seat belts, and signal violations. Within an hour, they had recorded two license-suspension-level drunk driving cases and 10 other traffic violations. Seven minor infractions were handled with warnings only.

Officers spread across two of the road's three lanes, stationed roughly 10 meters apart, and waved vehicles over one by one. "Good morning. We're conducting a sobriety check. Please blow into this," they told each driver before walking them through the procedure.

Some drivers blew firmly into the breathalyzer; others were noticeably reluctant, exhaling in short bursts or coughing into the device. One vehicle tried to drive past without stopping, prompting an officer to shout, "Stop! Stop!" until the car pulled over.

When alcohol is detected, the breathalyzer sounds an alarm and flashes a red warning light. At around 8:37 a.m., a woman in her 40s — identified only as A — triggered the alarm after blowing into the device. She had just dropped her child off at school and was on her way home. She stepped out of the car looking flustered.

Following police instructions, she rinsed her mouth with water and blew again. When she exhaled weakly, an officer demonstrated the proper technique. "Blow like you're inflating a balloon," he said. The alarm sounded again.

A said she thought the reading might be from an electrolyte drink she had consumed while driving and asked for more water. "I can't keep giving you water," the officer replied. She was then asked to take a formal breath test, but her lack of cooperation led officers to log a first refusal.

A told a reporter she had drunk two beers the previous night. "My baby was sick Wednesday and I couldn't sleep trying to comfort her, so I had a drink — I'm so flustered right now," she said.

A eventually blew firmly into the device. Her blood alcohol concentration registered at 0.053 percent — enough for a license suspension.

An officer explained the consequences: a 100-day suspension, with a 40-day temporary license issued after a follow-up investigation at the police station, and the full suspension beginning once the temporary license expired. First-time offenders, he added, can have the suspension reduced by up to 50 days by completing an education program through the Korea Road Traffic Authority.

A second driver, a man, was also caught in the crackdown. His blood alcohol concentration came in at 0.034 percent. He said he had drunk a bottle of wine around 11 p.m. Wednesday and gone to sleep.

Both drivers found themselves needing to call a designated driver on a weekday morning. Anyone whose blood alcohol level meets the threshold for license suspension must have another driver take the wheel before leaving the scene.

Lee Kyung-jin, head of the traffic division at the Songpa Police Station, who led the operation, said school zones demand extra caution from drivers. "If someone who drank heavily the night before gets behind the wheel in a school zone while still not fully sober, children are put at even greater risk," Lee said. The Songpa station plans to continue enforcement operations around schools through the end of the year, when winter break begins.