7 out of 10 People Caught Drunk Driving Face License Cancellation

The police are conducting a drunk driving crackdown. [Photo by Asia Economy]

Last year, the number of drunk driving violations exceeded 130,000, with 70% of them resulting in license cancellations.

On the 1st, Min Hong-cheol, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, analyzed the number of drunk driving violations over the past five years (2019?2023), revealing a total of 624,636 cases. By year, the numbers were ▲2019: 130,772 ▲2020: 117,549 ▲2021: 115,882 ▲2022: 130,283 ▲2023: 130,150. Among the 620,000 cases, license cancellations accounted for 441,212 cases (70.6%), and the cancellation rate in 2023 increased by more than 8 percentage points compared to 2019. Last year, 72.4% of the 130,000 cases resulted in license cancellations.

By region, the rankings were ▲1st: Gyeonggi (South and North) with 179,276 cases ▲2nd: Seoul with 71,448 cases ▲3rd: Gyeongnam with 43,750 cases.

Over the past five years, there were a total of 75,950 traffic accidents caused by drunk driving. In particular, there were 1,161 deaths and 122,566 injuries, resulting in a casualty rate of 163% relative to the number of accidents.

Assemblyman Min Hong-cheol stated, "The casualty rate caused by drunk driving reaches 163%, and behind these numbers lie innocent lives and the sorrow of families," emphasizing, "Along with strong legal sanctions against drunk driving, education and publicity to prevent it must be further strengthened."

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