You don’t see that every day. Dashcam footage caught a taxi car flying out of the side of a five-story building in a freak car accident. What happened to lead up to this event, and how did the vehicle manage to break through the wall so easily? If we had to guess, this parking garage was not as well-built as it could have been.

This car accident involved a taxi driving through the wall of a parking garage

The holiday rush hadn’t slowed down much at a shopping mall in Busan, South Korea. Dash camera footage shows a five-story parking garage attached to a supermarket in the background. Without warning, a taxi cab blasts through the side of the parking garage. According to the local news station, the taxi cab plunged over 60 feet down onto the pavement.

On its way down, the cab hit another vehicle driving on the road near the supermarket. The taxi driver did not survive the incident, and seven others were injured. It appeared as if there was an explosion when the vehicle drove through the wall, but what were the events that led to this car accident?

The news report says the 70-year-old taxi driver might have gotten confused trying to exit the parking garage. He tried to drive down a level when he got confused and drove straight instead. Perhaps in the confusion, the driver also accelerated instead of coming to a stop.

The whole car accident was caught on dash camera

According to the Parking Lot Act in Korea, a wall must be able to withstand the impact of a two-ton vehicle. A standard taxicab would be within that weight as it was a smaller, standard, four-door vehicle. The walls must also be able to withstand the impact at around 12 mph. Though that might not seem like much, it should have been able to hold up against a single sedan crash.

The news report says the local police are investigating the circumstances that led to the crash. Was the taxi speeding through the garage? Or was the parking garage not built up to standard? Based on the video of the collision, the cab was going quite fast as it exited the side of the building.

Traffic incidents tend to happen more frequently around the holidays

According to a previous report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), car accidents happen at a higher rate around the holidays. Back in 2019, the NHTSA published a report titled “Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Fatalities for the Holiday Periods of 2019.” The study found that the highest fatality period over four major holidays happened between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

The NHTSA hypothesizes that this is due to the increased number of vehicles on the road, alcohol use, and higher speeds. Even though this specific accident took place in Korea, it would make sense that the holiday chaos might have impacted things. The supermarket might have been more crowded than usual. Or, the taxi driver might have been busier than expected due to the increased amount of shopping and people out and about. Either way, this tragic accident could have been prevented. An investigation is ongoing.