Last Year, Most Bicycle Accidents Involved Teens and People in Their 50s... What Is the Reason?

Teens and People in Their 50s Use Bicycles Frequently...Accidents Also Common
High Accident Areas Include Gochon-eup, Gunpo-si, Gyeonggi-do

Recently, the number of bicycle users in South Korea has increased significantly to 13.4 million, and last year, approximately 13,000 bicycle accidents were recorded domestically. Among these, accidents involving teenagers and people in their 50s were the most frequent.

According to the report "Analysis and Implications of Bicycle Accidents" by Senior Research Fellow Kim Seok-young and Principal Researcher Ki Seung-do from the Korea Insurance Research Institute on the 27th, a total of 13,270 bicycle accidents occurred last year. There were 5,393 accidents caused by the cyclists and 7,877 accidents where they were victims. The number of fatalities was 196, and injuries totaled 13,998.

By age group, accidents were more common among teenage and cyclists aged 50 and above. Temporally, most accidents occurred between April and October, when outdoor activities are active, mainly at 8 a.m. and between 4 and 6 p.m.

This is analyzed to be because people in their 50s and older, who have a higher proportion of non-economic activity, ride bicycles more frequently compared to the main economically active population in their 30s and 40s, who use bicycles relatively less.

Accidents caused by the perpetrators occurred 46% on single lanes, followed by 36.1% at intersections. The high number of intersection accidents appears to be due to the driving habits of cyclists who do not obey traffic signals.

The researchers stated, “Since bicycles are widely used as both transportation and leisure means, it seems necessary to improve bicycle road conditions in urban areas,” and added, “Thorough preparation such as wearing protective gear and safe driving is required for cyclists in their teens and those aged 50 and above.”

Meanwhile, according to statistics released on the 24th by the Road Traffic Authority, a public institution in Wonju Innovation City, more than half of bicycle accident fatalities were people in their 60s and 70s.

The Road Traffic Authority analyzed traffic accidents over the past five years from 2018 to last year using big data. According to this, there were 959 fatalities and 57,706 injuries occurring while riding bicycles.

Among them, 510 fatalities were people in their 60s and 70s, accounting for 53.2% of the total, and serious injuries in this age group also exceeded 40%.

Additionally, the Authority analyzed bicycle accidents last year and selected 213 locations nationwide where accidents frequently occurred. Gochon-eup, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, with 10 accidents causing 15 injuries, and Hadan-dong, Saha-gu, Busan Metropolitan City, with 8 accidents causing 8 injuries, were identified as bicycle accident hotspots. The selection criterion was places where four or more bicycle accidents occurred within a 100-meter radius.

By region, Seoul had the most locations with 86 spots, followed by Gyeonggi with 55, Daegu with 29, Gyeongsangbuk-do with 10, and Busan with 6.

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