Home > National > Social Affairs

Korean police mull conditional driver’s licenses after crashes involving older drivers

Published: 09 Jun. 2025, 21:02

A car driven into the Kkaebi Market in western Seoul by a man in his 70s on Dec, 31, 2024 [YONHAP]

Amid a series of car crashes caused by drivers with medical conditions such as dementia, the Korean National Police Agency is considering the introduction of a conditional driver’s license system.

On Monday, the agency announced it is reviewing the expansion of the definition of “high-risk drivers” to include those with illnesses that impair driving and introducing a system that would allow such individuals to drive only under limited conditions.

This review is based on a report titled “Driver Fitness Assessment System for Improving Conditional Licensing” by a Seoul National University research team commissioned by the agency.

A conditional driver’s license would be issued to individuals with serious physical health conditions that affect driving — such as dementia or myocardial infarction — allowing them to operate a vehicle only under restricted circumstances. These could include bans on nighttime driving or the use of highways.

However, the police emphasized that age alone would not classify someone as high-risk.

Senior citizens attend an education program at the Korea Road Traffic Authority in western Seoul on Nov. 4, 2024. [JOONGANG ILBO]

“We are considering applying the system to individuals whose driving abilities are impaired, regardless of their age,” a police official said.

The move comes after several recent accidents involving such drivers. In December last year, a man in his 70s diagnosed with dementia drove his car into Kkaebi Market in Mok-dong, western Seoul, resulting in 13 casualties. Following this and similar incidents, the agency began reviewing the feasibility of implementing conditional licensing.

The report by the Seoul National University team pointed out that the current disqualification criteria for driver's licenses focus primarily on physical disabilities and mental illnesses, overlooking other critical conditions such as myocardial infarction, stroke and sleep disorders. The team proposed expanding the disqualification criteria to cover medical conditions that impair driving and strengthening the physical and cognitive assessments required for licensing.

The researchers also suggested adopting a third-party reporting system. Under this proposal, close family members, physicians or police officers — not just the drivers themselves — could request fitness-for-driving assessments from the licensing authority. Similar systems are already in place in countries like the United States and Australia.

The ″Smile Silver Sticker″ developed by the Korea Road Traffic Authority to help drivers notice an elderly driver on the road [KOROAD]

Conditional driver’s license systems already exist abroad. Some U.S. states and Australian jurisdictions limit elderly drivers with dementia from operating vehicles at night or on highways. In Japan, a licensing system allows older drivers who lack full driving aptitude to continue driving only if their vehicles are equipped with advanced driver assistance systems such as emergency automatic braking and pedal misapplication prevention devices.

Still, experts caution that determining the scope of high-risk drivers may spark concerns about infringing on the mobility rights of older adults. They stress the need for a broad public consensus before such a policy can be implemented.

“Since a high proportion of taxi, truck and bus drivers are older adults, any restrictive licensing system could have significant repercussions if it is not adequately explained or accepted,” said Kim Pil-soo, a professor of future automotive engineering at Daelim University. “We need to develop a conditional licensing model tailored to Korea’s reality through public debates and policy forums.”

The police said they are reviewing detailed proposals inspired by international examples and plan to continue discussions with the medical community and other stakeholders while gathering public feedback.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY LEE AH-MI [[email protected]]