More than half of Seoul’s private cab drivers choose not to drive taxis at night, Seoul City said Monday, attributing the low rate of night-time driving to drivers’ age.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said that the average age of private taxi drivers was 60.4 as of this year. About 56 percent of the capital’s taxis are private, it said.

Of them, about 31 percent of the drivers are over the age of 65, with 12 percent being 70 or older.

While 35,000 of the private taxies are obligated to operate daily, only 48 percent, or 16,931 of them are running nightshifts due to worries over their safety on the road, the data said.

The older the drivers were, the less they worked at night, the data added. While more than half of those aged 50 or younger went to work at night, only 24 percent of those in their 70s did so.

The city said that such low participation in nighttime taxi driving derived from the aged drivers’ concerns over accident risks.

According to data from the city authorities, just 22 percent of taxi-related accidents from 2010 to last year involved drivers aged 65 or older. However, the number of car accidents by older aged drivers in general jumped to some 15,000 cases in 2012, nearly fivefold that of 2001.

“The accident rate of aged drivers is usually higher than the average. When accidents take place, they also tend to face a hike in insurance fees, (making cab drivers reluctant to work at night),” Seoul officials said.

In an effort to alleviate the cab accident concerns by aged drivers, Seoul City has suggested that the Transport Ministry limit the cab drivers’ age to 65. But several legislation attempts in the past died due to a backlash from the cab industry, the city said.

By Lee Hyun-jeong  (rene@heraldcorp.com)