<Anchor> The



number of accidents caused by older drivers is increasing day by day. In order to prevent accidents, there are incentives to educate elderly drivers or to return their licenses, but they are not having much effect.



Reporter Shin Jeong-eun.



<Reporter>



At dawn on the 19th, a taxi pulled into an alley in Seoul.



The driver stopped the car and came out, looked carefully at the windshield and left.



I came back after a while, checked the vehicle and left.



A taxi driver in his 70s collided with a passerby and left without action.



The victim suffered serious head injuries and died.



The police arrested the driver on charge of manslaughter under the Special Act.



[Police official: He said he did not know that he had hit someone, but can he not know? The reaction speed is a bit slow, and that can affect the accident.] The number of



elderly drivers 65 and older exceeded 3.86 million last year, an increase of 55% in 5 years, and the number of traffic accidents involving elderly drivers also increased by 31,72 during the same period. cases increased by 27%.



In order to prevent accidents by elderly drivers, a voluntary return system for driver's licenses has been introduced by local governments since 2017.



When seniors 65 years of age or older return their driver's license, transportation costs or local gift certificates are provided. Only 2% of eligible drivers participate each year.



[Sun-Yeol Lee/Professor, Department of Education and Management, Road Traffic Authority: We need to be aware of the situation that our cognitive ability or driving ability is not in a state that is enough to keep a driver's license, but those things may be lacking.]



Drivers over 75 years old A system that allows you to renew your license only after passing an aptitude test and traffic safety education is also in effect from 2019.



However, in the case of an 82-year-old driver who struck and killed his grandmother and granddaughter in Busan yesterday (22nd), he renewed his license before the law was revised and was excluded from the subject of compulsory education.



Careful efforts are required, such as developing and supporting safety devices such as prevention of sudden acceleration for elderly drivers who are weak in driving, and filling gaps in the system.



(Video editing: Park Ji-in)