Gwangju Police Urge Elderly Drivers to Voluntarily Surrender Driver's Licenses

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency (Chief Choi Gwanho) has urged elderly drivers to voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses and use public transportation to prevent traffic accidents, as traffic accidents caused by elderly drivers have been increasing every year.

Since June last year, a system has been in place to prevent and reduce traffic accidents caused by drivers aged 70 and older, where elderly drivers who voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses receive a transportation card worth 100,000 KRW.

Over the past 10 years in Gwangju, the number of elderly driver's license holders has increased about threefold (aged 65 and older: from 30,675 to 83,678; aged 70 and older: from 12,589 to 42,764), and the number of traffic accidents caused by those aged 65 and older has also increased 2.9 times (from 346 to 992 cases).

On the 8th, an accident occurred in the second-floor parking lot of a food material mart in Hwajeong-dong, Seo-gu, where a passenger car driven by an 81-year-old man crashed through the assembled panel wall of the parking lot and rushed into the mart staff break room, injuring five people inside the break room.

Reflecting this reality, the Gwangju Police Agency and Gwangju City have introduced and operated a system that provides transportation cards to elderly drivers who voluntarily surrender their licenses as a measure to prevent traffic accidents involving elderly drivers.

To apply for voluntary surrender of a driver's license and incentive support, applicants must visit the police station's civil affairs office, fill out an application form, and surrender their license; the transportation card will then be sent by registered mail to their address.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency expects that the voluntary surrender of driver's licenses by elderly drivers will become more active as the promotion of the voluntary surrender system has been widely conducted.

Meanwhile, in the Gwangju area, 1,592 elderly drivers voluntarily surrendered their driver's licenses from June to December last year, and 948 surrendered theirs up to last month this year.