Series of fatal mistakes by older drivers renew road safety dispute in superaged Korea

Multiple car accidents involving older drivers have occurred in the Greater Seoul area recently, once again touching off debate about whether the state should regulate driving for senior citizens.

Officers at Bupyeong Seobu Police Station in Incheon are investigating a case where a car driven by a man in his 70s injured a young woman and her 2-year-old daughter on the sidewalk on Tuesday. Both victims are currently being treated at a local hospital, with the driver having sustained nonfatal injuries.

The driver reportedly told police that he believes he made a mistake while driving, with officials suspecting he stepped on the gas instead of the brake pedal.

This follows an accident caused by a 67-year-old man on Nov. 13 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, when his truck rammed into a market, resulting in four deaths and 17 injuries as of Wednesday. Dashcam footage of the vehicle showed the driver mistakenly stepping on the gas.

Another car accident involving an aged driver occurred Nov. 13 in Incheon, when a woman in her 60s ran over and killed a woman in her 20s with an SUV at a crosswalk. Officials at the Incheon Seobu Police Station are still investigating the exact cause of the accident, with the driver saying she could not see clearly in front of her at the time of the accident.

In a quickly aging society, a growing number of Koreans 65 and older are driving. Government data shows that car accidents caused by senior citizens have also increased.

According to the Korea Road Traffic Authority, there were 42,369 car accidents caused by those 65 and older in 2024, which was the highest figure ever and a sizeable increase from 31,072 in 2020. The portion of car accidents involving senior citizens of all car accidents also went up from 14.8 percent to 21.6 percent in the same period — also the highest number since the government started keeping tally in 2005.

Accidents caused by older drivers tend to be more fatal, according to the statistics. Last year, 761 people died in traffic accidents caused by senior citizens, marking 30.2 percent of all traffic-related deaths in that year.

Medical experts have said that impaired cognitive ability in old age is detrimental to one's driving abilities, including the capability to respond to sudden situations on the road.

Regional governments across South Korea have introduced a system providing incentives to senior citizens who turn in their driver's license, and drivers aged 75 and above are mandated to renew their license once every three years — more frequently than once every five years for those aged 65 and older and once every 10 years for those under 65.

With the proportion of senior citizens in the country surpassing the 20 percent mark in 2024 — officially making South Korea a “superaged society” by the UN's definition — people have been calling for measures to ensure safety with more aged people behind the wheel.

The government said last month it is pushing for a law revision that would mandate the installation of the Acceleration Control for Pedal Error system in all new cars starting in January 2029.