Pohang City Opens Gyeongbuk Region's First 'Disabled Driver Support Center'... Addressing Welfare Blind Spots

Pohang Driver's License Test Center Opens Disabled Driver Support Center

Free Written, Practical, and Road Driving Education... Eliminating Blind Spots

The first Disabled Driver Support Center in the Gyeongbuk region has opened in Pohang.

On the 24th, the Pohang Driver's License Examination Office of the Korea Road Traffic Authority held the opening ceremony of the 'Driver Support Center for the Disabled.'

The Korea Road Traffic Authority Pohang Driver’s License Test Center (Director Shin Gi-beom) held an opening ceremony for the ‘Disabled Driver Support Center’ on the 24th at the Pohang Driver’s License Test Center, attended by about 50 officials including Lee Ju-min, Chairman of the Korea Road Traffic Authority, Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang, and Lee Seo-young, Head of Traffic Planning at the National Police Agency.

The Pohang Disabled Driver Support Center is a specialized facility for obtaining driver’s licenses for people with disabilities. It is the first in the Gyeongbuk region and the thirteenth nationwide to open in Pohang.

It offers free education including 2 hours of theoretical training, 8 hours of functional training, and 10 hours of road driving practice. After counseling for license acquisition according to the type of disability, it plans to provide guidance on vehicle modification suitable for the disability type and link employment support through disabled persons’ associations.

Accordingly, it is expected to help expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities by guaranteeing mobility rights for about 180,000 people with disabilities in the Gyeongbuk region, including approximately 27,000 in Pohang, eliminating welfare blind spots, and enabling permanent driver’s license acquisition for people with disabilities residing in Gyeongbuk.

Director Shin Gi-beom said, “The Pohang Disabled Driver Support Center provides free license acquisition counseling, vehicle modification guidance suitable for disability types, driving ability evaluation, theoretical education, functional training, and road driving education,” adding, “We will continue to do our best to realize universal welfare for people with disabilities and strive to be a public institution that fulfills social responsibility and duty.”

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “With the opening of the Pohang Disabled Driver Support Center, the mobility rights of transportation-vulnerable people in the Gyeongbuk region, who had been in a blind spot for obtaining driver’s licenses, can now be guaranteed,” and added, “The city will also spare no effort to eliminate welfare blind spots for people with disabilities.”