Serious 'Drunk Driving' Among 10s-20s... Highest Number of Accidents and Deaths

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] One quarter of traffic accidents caused by drunk driving were caused by drivers in their teens and twenties. The number of deaths resulting from accidents caused by this age group was also found to be much higher compared to other age groups.

According to the Korea Transportation Safety Authority on the 8th, an analysis of drunk driving traffic accident statistics over the past three years (2016-2018) showed that the number of drunk driving traffic accidents involving drivers aged 30 or younger was a total of 14,388 cases, accounting for 24.5% of the total.

Next were ▲ages 31-40 with 14,382 cases (24.5%) ▲ages 41-50 with 13,646 cases (23.3%) ▲ages 51-60 with 11,299 cases (19.3%) ▲ages 65 and older with 2,661 cases (4.5%) ▲ages 61-64 with 2,291 cases (3.9%) in that order.

The total number of deaths caused by drunk driving traffic accidents during this period was 1,266. Among them, the number of deaths caused by drunk driving accidents involving drivers aged 30 or younger was 401 (31.7%), the highest.

The fatality rate for drunk driving by drivers aged 30 or younger (number of deaths per 100 traffic accidents) was 2.8, which was 1.3 times higher than the average fatality rate of all drunk driving traffic accidents (2.2).

Looking at the monthly data, traffic accidents caused by drunk driving occurred most frequently in April, while deaths occurred most frequently in March.

Kwon Byung-yoon, Director of the Authority, said, "Drunk driving is a criminal act that endangers not only oneself but everyone on the road," and emphasized, "Since the drunk driving crackdown standards were strengthened from June 25 last year, you must never get behind the wheel even after drinking just one glass of alcohol."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.