Daejeon City Offers 100,000 Won Cash Support for Voluntary Returns
Return Rate Among 60s Remains at 1-3%, Highlighting Policy Challenges
Daejeon City will update the age criteria for supporting the voluntary surrender of driver's licenses by elderly drivers through an ordinance revision.
On the 16th, Daejeon City announced that starting from the 18th of next month, the age criterion for providing incentives to elderly drivers who voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses will be raised from 65 years and older to 70 years and older.
The increase in the age criterion will be implemented through the revision of the "Daejeon City Traffic Safety Promotion Ordinance."
According to the revised ordinance, elderly drivers who voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses will receive cash (100,000 KRW) instead of the previously provided transportation card. This change reflects Daejeon City's recent initiative to support free public transportation rides for the elderly.
Previously, since 2019, Daejeon City has been promoting a transportation cost support program to encourage elderly drivers to voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses.
Through this program, from September 2019 to 2023, a total of 13,221 elderly individuals in Daejeon voluntarily surrendered their driver's licenses, averaging about 250 people per month.
However, the rate of license surrender among elderly drivers remained at only 1.6% to 3.1% of all elderly license holders.
By year, from September to December 2019, out of 85,013 elderly drivers, 1,300 (1.6%) surrendered their licenses; in 2020, out of 93,636, 2,170 (2.3%); in 2021, out of 102,161, 3,173 (3.1%); and in 2022, out of 111,560, 3,504 (3.1%) surrendered their licenses.
Although the number of elderly drivers increased each year, the proportion voluntarily surrendering their licenses did not significantly rise.
Moreover, among voluntary surrenderers by age group, those aged 65 to 69 accounted for only 5.9% of the total. The age group with the highest surrender rate was 80 and older (41.2%), followed by 75 to 79 (29.8%) and 70 to 74 (22.8%). This provides a basis for Daejeon City to judge that voluntary license surrender by elderly under 70 is not realistic.
Special and metropolitan cities such as Seoul, Incheon, Gwangju, and Sejong have also set the voluntary surrender age for driver's licenses at 70 and older to provide incentives, considering these circumstances. Currently, cities maintaining the 65 to 69 age range include Busan, Daegu, and Ulsan.
Park Dohyun, Director of the Transportation and Construction Bureau of Daejeon City, said, "The ordinance revision focuses on excluding the socially active 65 to 69 age group from the driver's license surrender support target and raising it to 70 and older. We will strive to maximize the effectiveness of the program through selection and concentration."
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