Pardon Linked to Higher Accident Rate

A police report shows that people who started driving on August 15 after last year’s presidential driving violation pardons have higher accident rates other drivers. In addition, the total number of car accidents in 2005, which had been decreasing, increased after August 15.

According to the “Report on Car Accidents after August 15,” which Donga-A Ilbo acquired from the National Police Agency, 4,139,932 pardoned drivers were involved in 5,275 car accidents between August 2005 and December 2005.

The 175,057 drivers that received their licenses back thanks to the pardons caused 953 accidents in five months. If these numbers were recalculated as accidents per 10,000 people, pardoned drivers crashed at a rate of 54.5, which is higher than the normal drivers’ accident rate of 46.6.

The total number of car accidents has also increased since August 2005. From August 15 to December 31, a total of 85,701 car accidents occurred, 4.6 percent higher than the previous year’s total of 81,947.

Jang Il-jun, a senior researcher at the Samsung Transportation Safety Research Institute, said, “The important fact is that the trend has reversed from downward to upward. The pardons give people a sense of ease. They think, ‘even if I do get caught for reckless driving, I’ll be pardoned one day.’”

Suk-Min Hong smhong@donga.com