Over 20,000 Traffic Accident Deaths in 6 Years... "Comprehensive Traffic Accident System Needed"

National Police Agency 'Traffic Accident Occurrence Status'
Holiday Vehicle Traffic Expected to Increase by 13.4%...Special Management

On the 8th, one day before the Chuseok holiday, traffic congestion continues on the southbound lanes (right side) of the Gyeongbu Expressway as seen from Jamwon IC in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] It has been revealed that over the past six years, more than 20,000 people have died due to traffic accidents. In particular, 35% of the total deaths were confirmed to be caused by pedestrian traffic accidents.

According to the 'Traffic Accident Occurrence Status' data received from the National Police Agency by Jeong Woo-taek, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the People Power Party, the number of traffic accident deaths nationwide from 2016 to last year was recorded at 21,604.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of deaths has shown a decreasing trend recently. Looking at the number of deaths by year, it slightly decreased from 3,349 in 2019 to 3,081 in 2020.

However, the number of traffic accidents still remained high, recording over 200,000 cases. Traffic accidents numbered 229,600 in 2019, 209,654 in 2020, and 203,130 in 2021.

Deaths caused by pedestrian traffic accidents accounted for 35% of the total. Last year, the number of deaths and injuries due to pedestrian traffic accidents were recorded as 1,018 and 36,001 respectively.

Regarding this, Representative Jeong emphasized, "The police and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety must expand a comprehensive system to reduce traffic accidents," and added, "We must make every effort to prevent pedestrian accidents, which account for about 35% of all traffic accident deaths."

Meanwhile, the police expect that during this holiday period, the average daily vehicle traffic volume will increase by about 13.4% compared to the same period last year (4.78 million vehicles), reaching 5.42 million vehicles per day, and will undertake special management to prevent traffic accident risks.