Increase in Drunk Driving Despite Yoon Chang-ho Law... "Ignition Interlock Device Must Be Mandatory"

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance 'The Reality and Measures for Habitual Drunk Drivers'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Among the 1.15 million people whose driver's licenses were revoked in the past five years, more than half?610,000?had their licenses revoked due to drunk driving. Despite the implementation of the so-called Yoon Chang-ho Act, which strengthened penalties for drunk driving, recent data shows that drunk driving is on the rise again.

On the 26th, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's affiliated Samsung Traffic Safety Culture Institute released a report titled "Status and Measures for Habitual Drunk Drivers." The study tracked and investigated the enforcement and accident records over five years (January 2015 to August 2020) of drivers who newly obtained their licenses in 2015 and those who reacquired their licenses in 2015 after having them revoked due to drunk driving.

In the previous year, when social interest in drunk driving increased due to the enforcement of the Yoon Chang-ho Act, the proportion of drunk driving license revocations among all license revocations was 36.6%, a decrease of 18.0 percentage points from the previous year.

The Yoon Chang-ho Act refers to the Road Traffic Act and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, which strengthened penalties for drunk driving. It was promoted following the death of Yoon Chang-ho in a drunk driving accident in 2018 and was implemented last year.

However, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of drunk driving license revocations has expanded again to 45.2% of the total as of August this year. The number of traffic accidents caused by drunk drivers also showed a decreasing trend similar to the number of license revocations but has shown signs of increasing again this year.

14% of Drunk Driving License Revocations Reoffend Within 5 Years

The report revealed that among those whose licenses were revoked due to drunk driving, 158,000 reacquired their licenses in 2015, and 14.0% of them were caught driving under the influence again within five years. This rate is three times higher than the 4.8% drunk driving detection rate among drivers who newly obtained their licenses in 2015 during the same period.

Additionally, 11.4% (18,000 people) of those who reacquired their licenses had their licenses revoked again due to drunk driving. This is ten times higher than the 1.1% license revocation rate among new license holders during the same period, indicating a very high rate of reoffense among those whose licenses were revoked for drunk driving.

Furthermore, traffic accidents caused by drivers who reacquired their licenses numbered around 9,000, showing an accident rate of 5.7% relative to their total number. Compared to the 2.2% accident rate of new license holders, this indicates a 2.5 times higher risk of accidents.

The report pointed out that South Korea's management policies for drunk drivers are insufficient compared to major advanced countries in traffic safety. Even if a driver's license is revoked, it is considered much easier to reacquire the license in South Korea than in other countries, as offenders only need to complete 4 to 16 hours of education within a disqualification period of 1 to 5 years, depending on the number of violations.

In other countries, offenders are required to complete drunk driving education programs lasting at least three months or provide a specialist's certificate confirming full recovery from alcohol addiction. Recently, ignition interlock devices that prevent the vehicle from starting if the driver has consumed alcohol are also being mandated for drivers with a history of drunk driving.

Lim Chae-hong, senior researcher at Samsung Traffic Safety Culture Institute, said, "Due to alcohol addiction, drunk driving cannot be resolved by short-term punishment like other causes of traffic accidents," adding, "It is necessary to consider mandatory psychological treatment and ignition interlock devices for habitual drunk drivers."

[Image source=Yonhap News]