Andong City, 270 Elderly Drivers Voluntarily Surrender Licenses... 'Reception Centers' Expanded to Administrative Centers

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] Andong City in Gyeongbuk announced on the 18th that, as a result of actively encouraging voluntary license surrender, including enacting an ordinance to support elderly drivers last year, the number of drivers aged 65 and over who surrendered their licenses has reached 270 as of October this year.

To prevent traffic accidents involving elderly drivers, Andong City has been providing Andong Love Gift Certificates or transportation cards worth approximately 100,000 KRW to voluntary license surrenders by residents aged 65 and over living in the jurisdiction since January.

With traffic accidents involving elderly drivers increasing every year, as of the end of September, among the 262 traffic accident fatalities in Gyeongbuk Province, 135 (52%) were elderly, indicating that the proportion of traffic accidents involving elderly drivers is the highest.

Considering this trend, Andong City enacted the Elderly Driver Support Ordinance last year and, in August, expanded the reception offices from the previous jurisdictional police station to the Eup, Myeon, and Dong administrative welfare centers, while also simplifying the application procedures.

Separately, Andong City plans to provide reflective vests and reflective canes to approximately 5,000 residents aged 75 and over living in rural Eup and Myeon areas to ensure nighttime pedestrian safety for the elderly. According to the Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency, as of October, among the 77 pedestrian fatalities in the province, 51 (66%) were elderly. Of these, 16 died in accidents that occurred between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The head of Andong City's Traffic Administration Department stated, "We will make further efforts to prevent traffic accidents involving elderly and senior drivers, guarantee mobility rights such as expanding the Happy Taxi service so that elderly drivers do not feel a sense of loss or deprivation, and realize transportation welfare."

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