KOREA: Seniors Account for 27 Percent of Traffic Accidents

SOEUL (The Korea Times), May 14, 2006: The number of older Koreans involved in fatal traffic accidents has steadily increased amid an aging population, according to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation. Ministry statistics on Sunday revealed that the number of traffic deaths for seniors aged 65 or above was 1,700, representing 26.7 percent of all traffic deaths. Elderly people’s death rates from traffic accidents have surged from 19.5 percent in 2001 to 22.1 percent in 2002, 23.7 percent in 2003 and 26.4 percent in 2004, raising safety concerns for the aging population. Of the elderly traffic deaths, 58.2 percent lost their lives while walking on the street, 1.5 times higher than the average 35.8 percent among other age groups. The statistics said that 214,171 traffic accidents last year took 6,376 lives and injured 342,235 people. This gives an average of 587 traffic accidents each day, killing 17 people and injuring 938, though the number of traffic accidents has fallen 17.8 percent from 260,579 in 2001. The number of traffic deaths was also down by 21.3 percent from 8,097 in 2001. However, the traffic accidents have claimed the lives of more children and elderly _ accounting for 31 percent or 1,984 traffic deaths _ indicating a lack of protection for the rising number of seniors, and children. The rate of traffic deaths for children aged 14 or under has declined slightly from 4.9 percent of the total in 2001 to 4.5 percent last year. In 2005, 284 children were killed in traffic accidents with 25,314 being injured. ``The ministry will take steps to reduce the number of traffic accidents for pedestrians by setting up safety devices on footpaths and enforcing safety standards for pedestrian protection in driving tests,’’ a ministry official said. The statistics showed 35,470 people have died since 2001 in 1.17 million traffic accidents, while 1.8 million have been injured. The nation’s traffic deaths per 10,000 vehicles was 3.36 last year, ranking it the 5th worse among 30 member nations of the Organizations for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The average traffic deaths per 10,000 automobiles among OECD member states is 1.78. Norway’s traffic deaths per 10,000 cars were the lowest at 1.02, followed by Japan with 1.1 and the United Kingdom with 1.14. By Chung Ah-young Staff Reporter Copyright© KoreaTimes.co.kr